(TURTLE BAY, Hawaii) — Dec. 19, 2011. Albuquerque’s Katie Kempter shot a final-round, 9-under-par 63 over the Palmer Course at Turtle Bay Resort on Oahu Sunday to finish the 54-hole Turtle Bay Hawaii State Open Golf Tournament at 12-under.
Her round was bogey-free, with nine birdies and nine pars. “It was really fun; I kept making every putt — some of them around 20-feet long — for birdie or to save par,” Kempter said of the 9-under final round. She won the same event in December 2009 as a newly minted LPGA Tour rookie.
“It was a really odd feeling. I wanted the thrill to never end, yet at the same time, I was hoping I could finish the round with a good score.”
Kempter earned $2,500 for the win. Kempter, a Sandia High School and Denver University standout, is a professional who plays on the Futures Tour.
Kempter failed to earn enough in 2011 to keep her LPGA Tour status going into the 2012 season and did poorly in an early stage of LPGA Q School, but she retains status on the Futures Tour. She plans to try to Monday-qualify for some LPGA Tour events in 2012.
— Courtesy of Norm Guenther, Hawaii Golf News and Travel