You gotta love Dorothy Delasin.

Not only because she represents Turtle Bay Resort on the LPGA Tour, but because she's almost as local as they come.

After she and Jennifer Rosales won the Women's World Cup of Golf in Sun City, South Africa, last month, Delasin said after the Philippines' stunning upset over favorite South Korea, "We were Spam-and-egging-it the whole week."

Not ham, mind you, Spam. I mean, how local can you get? You just know she thinks Spam musubi is the greatest thing since white bread.

"I love Spam," said Delasin, still stoked about the victory and hoping that her high carries over into the SBS Open at Turtle Bay, the LPGA Tour's season opener starting today at the resort's Palmer Course.

In fact, Delasin, 27, can't wait for the season to begin, especially because it starts at her home course.

A four-time tour winner, Delasin hasn't been in the victory circle since 2003 when she defeated Hee-Won Han in a playoff in the LPGA Tournament of Champions. That's 0-for-96 tournaments over the past four years with only one top-10 to show for it in the past two.

So, the Women's World Cup victory not only provided a taste of what it's like to win again, it's a good sign of what's in store for the coming year, according to Delasin.

"I changed my swing three years ago because I hurt my (right) wrist," she said. "It's been tough, but now it feels like my game's coming around, slowly but surely. I've been working on my game and winning (the Women's World Cup) is a good start to the year."

Actually, the victory shouldn't have come as a surprise. Delasin and Rosales finished second to Japan in George, South Africa, three weeks before Rosales became the winner of the inaugural SBS Open in 2005. Injuries prevented the two from partnering again until this year.

Delasin pleaded with Rosales, who was feeling better, to team up again: "I think we can win if we ever played again."

Sure enough, they did. "I predicted it and it was so much fun," Delasin said.

They can't wait to defend their title next year.

Until then, it's time to turn their attention to the coming LPGA season and what both hope will be comeback years. Especially for Rosales, who suffered her least productive seasons on the tour in 2006 and '07 and hasn't won since the 2005 SBS Open.

But it has been a trying four winless years as well for Delasin, who has never known what it's like not to win ever since she first picked up a golf club at the age of 8.

Born in Lubbock, Texas, where her Air Force mom, Salfe, was stationed, Delasin grew up in the Bay Area.

"My dad (Arsenio) used to work at a municipal course in San Francisco so that I could play golf for free," said Delasin, who won two Junior World titles at Torrey Pines in San Diego before showcasing her talent nationally with a pair of prestigious USGA championships — beating Grace Park in the 1996 U.S. Girls' Junior Championship and winning the 1999 U.S. Women's Amateur final over Jimin Kang, another South Korean on the LPGA Tour.

Delasin had a choice of college scholarships, but decided to turn pro out of high school. She still vividly remembers the moment she made that decision.

She was watching the 1999 PGA Championship at Medinah on television when Sergio Garcia was battling Tiger Woods in the final round on Sunday. Who could forget the incredible close-your-eyes shot that Garcia pulled off with a 6-iron with his ball against a tree root? Especially when he sprinted up the fairway, leaping up to watch the flight of his ball heading toward the green.

"Hey," Delasin remembers telling herself at that defining moment, "I'm 18, he's 18. (Well, almost. Garcia had just turned 19 that year). He had no fear. I thought that was a sign. So I went for it. I told my dad right then, I'm going pro."

She successfully made it through qualifying school to get her playing card and was the 2000 LPGA rookie of the year, becoming the youngest player in 25 years to win a tour event after a playoff with Pat Hurst in the Giant Eagle LPGA Classic.

It was after her rookie year that Delasin decided to visit a good friend, Clinton Begay, on the Big Island. Younger brother of pro golfer Notah Begay III, Clint was attending University of Hawai'i-Hilo at the time.

"I'd been to Hawai'i before, but I'd never hung out and golfed here. And Clint is my good friend," said Delasin, who had a chance to meet Matt Hall, then an assistant pro at Hapuna.

Hall got to golf with Delasin and came away impressed with her game and personality. So it was only natural that when Hall became Turtle Bay's director of golf and the resort, as a tournament host for an LPGA event, was looking for a future star as its tour representative, Delasin was an easy choice.

"It's awesome. I feel really honored and pretty lucky," Delasin said about her Turtle Bay affiliation, now in its fourth year.

It was at the inaugural SBS Open in 2005 that Delasin passed the $2 million mark in career earnings. She's now at $2.52 mil and counting. That Rosales also won the SBS Open the same year and they reunited to win the Women's World's Cup make up a composite sign of things to come for the Filipina twosome this week and next, according to Delasin.

There are about 30 South Koreans entered in the SBS Open and the Fields Open in Hawai'i at the Ko Olina Resort, but don't be surprised if you hear more than a few mabuhays from the gallery.

"We're going out there and have a good time," said Delasin, who now feels her game is back to where she can now play the kind of "golf that I knew how to play."