LANIKAI—Through wind and rain and perilous pin placements, Hawai'i's junior golfers just keep delivering.

Yesterday, in the second round of the Hawai'i State Women's Stroke Play Championship, it was Kacie Komoto, who turned 14 last month. Little Komoto cut through big gusts of wind and showers at Mid-Pacific Country Club to fire a 1-under-par 71. At 2-over 146 for the first two days, she has a two-shot advantage over Kristina Merkle going into today's final round, which starts around 9 a.m.

Merkle, who graduated from Moanalua High School last month, should provide a true test of Komoto's maturity. Since 2006, the daughter of Nagorski pro Lou Merkle has won three Jennie K. Wilson championships — at Mid-Pac — and two state high school titles. She is headed to Tulsa on a golf scholarship in the fall.

Komoto is heading into her freshman year at Punahou, where she will give the three-time defending state champions even more depth. She is a member of the KMR School of Golf and has KMR himself — founder Kevin Ralbovsky — on her bag.

Ralbovsky characterizes Komoto's game as steady and long and her attitude as ambitious: She gets to Ko'olau Golf Club so early for daily classes he offered to buy her breakfast, but Komoto is so early so often, with so many friends, he is re-thinking the offer.

She played the front nine in 2-under yesterday, with birdies at Nos. 1 and 8. She had two more birdies on the back and missed a third at the 16th when her eagle putt rolled off the green. The hole was sitting slope-side on the left and she was not alone. Anna Jang, a former state high school champion and Mid-Pacific member, did the same thing. Eimi Koga's chip from the front of the green also rolled off, but her flop shot coming back stopped inside 2 feet and she salvaged par.

That type of sophisticated shot-making is common among the teens. Komoto could have shot in the 60s but for a double bogey at No. 7.

"I thought I played my best today," said Komoto. "A couple of shots didn't go the way I wanted but it was the best I could do. I did well going shot-by-shot and blocking out all that stuff."

Komoto, Koga, 13, and Cyd Okino, 15, earned Hawai'i's slots in the USGA's team championship in Tuesday's qualifying round, run concurrently with this event (college players are not eligible). The long and lean Koga (76—151) is in third and Okino (77) is tied with Jang (77) and 2007 champion Xyra Suyetsugu (75), six shots back.

The teenage golf terrors are a sign of the times here, and the huge impact the Hawai'i State Junior Golf Association and prodigies like Michelle Wie and Tadd Fujikawa have had recently.

Merkle won her third Jennie K. in May by chasing down 11-year-old Allisen Corpuz, another KMR standout. Because of date conflicts, this is Merkle's first State Stroke Play. She led after the first round and would have shared the lead with Komoto yesterday, but for a wayward tee shot no one could find on the final hole. The ensuing double bogey was a discouraging exclamation point on a back nine of 42; Merkle was 3-under on the front, including a par at No. 5 that featured a shoe-less third shot from the water.

"That," Merkle grinned, "was really cool."

Okino, a two-time State Match Play champion, also had her troubles on the back. She was 2-under for the day going into No. 15, but had triple-bogeys on two of the final four holes.