'EWA BEACH — King Auto Group's State Golf Championship for players 12 and under used to be a sneak preview at the future of Hawai'i golf. In this exceptional era of the Hawai'i State Junior Golf Association, it has morphed into a sneak preview of golf around the globe.

Tadd Fujikawa, last seen making cuts on the Japan pro tour, won here three years ago. So did Ayaka Kaneko, currently the 10th-ranked girl in the country and heading to Pepperdine on a golf scholarship.

Lorens Chan and Cyd Okino also won that year. Chan's second Manoa Cup appearance ended in the second round yesterday; he reached the semifinals last year as a 13-year-old. Okino won two Hawai'i State Open women's titles and an HSWGA State Match Play championship before turning 14 in December. She warmed up for next week's U.S. Women's Open by playing in the U.S. Women's Public Links this week.

Donny Hopoi had to withdraw from the Boys 11-12 division this week at Hawai'i Prince when he became the youngest Manoa Cup qualifier Monday. Allisen Corpuz could not defend her Girls 10-under title because she is now the youngest ever to qualify for a USGA event — beating out Michelle Wie — after getting into Public Links.

Yesterday's final round of the 12-under State Championship, played on Prince's B and C nines, served as a reminder of the depth of talent in Hawai'i.

Mariel Galdiano filled Corpuz's cleats quite nicely, blowing to an 11-shot win in girls 10-under. Galdiano compensated for an opening round 81 by tearing up the 4,400-yard layout to the tune of 1-under-par 71 yesterday. She had five birdies, six pars and bogeys and a chip-in eagle at the 14th (C5); she nearly drove the green on the 260-yard par-4 that played into a cross-wind.

Galdiano, who turns 10 Wednesday, is pushing 4 feet 10 — and everyone in her age group, including Corpuz, whom she would like to emulate.

"I'd rather be at publinx because I've never been to a big tournament and I want to get the experience," said Galdiano, who starts fifth grade in August at St. Elizabeth. "I want to win Junior Worlds (next month). That's the biggest-ever junior tournament in the whole world."

The other three divisions were won by three shots, by Sian Rogers (boys 10-under), Eimi Koga (girls 11-12) and Richard Hattori (boys 11-12).

Rogers, 4-4 and 65 pounds, shot his career low yesterday. He played his last 17 holes in 5-under for a 68 — "I just kept getting birdies," the 'Aina Haina Elementary fifth-grader shrugged.

He, too, aspires to "more important" events when he gets a grip on his putting and can go lower than 68.

Hattori and Koga like things just the way they are.

"I'd rather be where I am right now," said Hattori, whose two-bogey/one-birdie round of 73 gave him a two-day total of 4-over 148 from the gold tees (6,200 yards). "I don't want to be, like, rude to the pros, but I'm a junior and I don't want to play with the adults. I tried out (to qualify) for the Pearl Open. It was pretty hard. I got really nervous. I'm playing with all adults and it was pretty scary."

Koga (75—144) defended her title after a 69 Tuesday that shared low-round honors with Hilo's Shon Katahira. The older girls played from Prince's white tees, at about 5,200 yards. Koga, a lean 5-5 and 83 pounds, blasted through the wind and hard fairways to play the C course in 1-under and hold off Alexandra Kaui (74—147).

Koga's comfort zone, for now, is with her peers in paradise. "Even if I did go to the public links, I'd want to play my best but it's kind of too risky," the Aliamanu Intermediate eighth-grader said. "I already know I'm not going to win and to even qualify is pretty hard."

But some days, when you are young, golf is not. The field of 50 juniors started at 7 a.m. yesterday. They were finished and receiving engraved silver plates by 1 p.m.

NOTES

Many of yesterday's participants will play the U.S. Kids qualifier Wednesday at Turtle Bay. King Auto Group's 13-older State Championship is July 7 and 8 at Hokuli'a.

The HSJGA Web site (www.hsjga.org) now has 2008 results posted in the BlueGolf format, which includes hole-by-hole scores for each golfer and a short profile.