All the attention was focused on Tadd Fujikawa, who at 17 became the youngest champion in the 50-year history of the Mid-Pacific Open, winning for the first time as a professional by a runaway seven strokes.

But another teenager, Stephanie Kono, also made history by being the first female to compete and play all four rounds in the state's only 72-hole open golf tournament.

No one appreciated the gender breakthrough by Kono more than Lesly Ann Komoda, who was at the 18th green to congratulate the Punahou School senior, who's headed to UCLA.

"I think it's awesome. She proved it (that she belonged)," said Komoda.

Playing from the same tees as the men, Kono finished tied for 27th in the professional flight with a 304 total, outplaying the majority of the 80 pros starting out in the flight.

Kono's final-round, 5-over 77 was nothing to sniff as it came on a day when the winds were blowing, the greens were scary fast and the pin placements devilish. No one broke par. Fujikawa shot a 76, as did runner-up Davis Ishii, while a bunch of pros couldn't break 80, including three-time champion Regan Lee.

"I think it's a good experience to play with conditions that are hard. It really tests you," said Kono, who along with Anna Jang, also of Punahou, were given special committee exemptions to be the first females to play in the Mid-Pac Open. Jang didn't survive the 36-hole cut.

"I'm pretty happy about making the cut. I was surprised, really," Kono said.

After making the turn with a 40, she played the back nine in 1-over with birdies at 12 and 14 and bogeys at 13, 15 and 16, the latter green being the best example of the difficult putting surfaces the golfers faced all the day. Kono had a 20-footer, downhill, downwind.

"It's insane," Kono said about the back-left pin placement. "It was so fast, so scary, I left it (her first putt) 4 feet short. I still had to lag the next putt."

Kono admits, though, that she's got to work on her putting, the part of her game that needs the most improvement. She had 144 putts during the week in contrast to 116 for Fujikawa, a difference of 28 strokes. Considering Fujikawa's 278 total was 26 strokes fewer than Kono's, that stat proved telling.

Still, Kono said she got a lot out of the experience, not so much playing against the men, but playing under such challenging conditions. "It's no comparison with the Jennie K.," she said about the women's amateur championship, also hosted by the Mid-Pacific CC, which she won as a 13-year-old. "It's a different course, it's 10 times trickier. It's not just about hitting the ball but where to hit the ball to be in the right position. It's hard to be aggressive at the pins."

It was Kono's third tournament in a men's event this year. She also played in the Hawai'i Pearl Open and the Hilo Invitational. But the Mid-Pac Open proved extremely difficult because it's 72 holes and she and her caddie, Joey Sakaue, walked the 6,792-yard Lanikai course all four days even though golf carts were allowed. "I haven't played a 72-hole stroke play tournament in a couple of years," Kono said.

And she's glad that the Mid-Pac Open gave her the chance to play.

"It's a good experience for me and I think a lot of women should play in it. (But) you certainly have to be ready for this course," said Kono, who thought she was. But she added, as a caveat, it wouldn't help a player's confidence if her game isn't up to it.

That brings us back to Komoda, who said it's finally "about time" and "it's a step in the right direction" that women have a chance to play in the Mid-Pac Open.

Komoda couldn't enter the 1994 Mid-Pac Open because it was a men's-only event, according to the club's policy. Michelle Wie was turned down for the same reason in 2003 despite a top-10 finish in an LPGA major, the Kraft Nabisco Championship, just several weeks earlier.

What made it more galling for Komoda was that she was a professional, a member of good standing with the Aloha Section PGA. At least Wie was still an amateur but she saw no need to play in the Jennie K. again, having won as an 11-year-old in 2001.

Komoda was upset enough at the time to talk to Mark Henry, then the ASPGA executive director. He referred it to the national office, which said to file an injunction.

"Are you crazy?" replied Komoda. "We live on an island. Everybody knows everybody. You can't go around making enemies. It's not worth it. I wouldn't hear the end of it," she said then and again in so many words Sunday.

This year's tournament rules were tweaked to allow Kono and Jang to enter as special invitees and compete only in the professional flight. The irony of it all? Komoda still can't play in the Mid-Pac Open. She's no longer a pro, having regained her amateur status.

A par 'tree': The shot of the day in Sunday's final round at the Mid-Pac Open was turned in by Kevin Hayashi at the par-3 14th hole, and it would have been a SportsCenter highlight. After spying his tee shot resting on a limb of a Norfolk pine 10 yards left of the green, the 5-foot-6 1/2 Hayashi stood on tip-toes and used his driver to whack the ball on the green. He then sank a 30-foot putt for his par.

"I'd have to say it was the best par I ever made. I barely could reach the ball. I couldn't do it if I were a inch shorter," said the Hilo pro. His playing partners, Brian Sasada, Beau Yokomoto and Casey Nakama, still can't believe what they saw. "He finally hit a shot that Tadd couldn't hit," said Yokomoto.

"I never heard of anything like it," added Mark Sousa, Mid-Pac's head golf professional.