Welcome Back: Kono Returns to First USGA Championship in 14 Years

Fifteen years ago, Stephanie Kono could have never imagined being in a conference room surrounded by a bunch of data scientists seeking the next big investment opportunity.

The Honolulu, Hawaii, native hoped to make it big, just not in the financial world. On the golf course, she was the cat’s meow – or considering Kono was an All-American at UCLA, one tough Bruin. Professional stardom on the LPGA Tour was the next logical career progression.

Before leaving Westwood 3½ years into her collegiate career in 2012 after advancing to the finals of 2011 Q-School, Kono had led UCLA to an NCAA title (2011), won three collegiate events and competed in 23 USGA championships, including three U.S. Women’s Opens as well as representing the USA on the victorious 2010 Curtis Cup Team.

But injuries – specifically back issues – and other mitigating circumstances, including the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, eventually led Kono to give up the professional life.

The golf clubs, however, were never permanently retired. And when she regained her amateur status last April after a 3½-year waiting period, Kono, now the associate director of business development for the Florida-based Voloridge Investment Management, rediscovered her love for high-level competitive golf.

This week, the 35-year-old will tee it up in the 38th U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship at Monterey Peninsula Country Club (Dunes Course), in Pebble Beach, Calif., her first USGA event since advancing to the quarterfinals of the 2011 U.S. Women’s Amateur. Kono gained her place in the 132-player field by earning medalist honors in a qualifier on Aug. 20, carding an even-par 72 at BallenIsles Country Club, in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

Kono had actually qualified for this year’s U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball last August, but when partner Ina Kim-Schaad, the 2019 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion and fellow Dye Preserve member, had a conflict with the championship dates, the side withdrew.

No such issues exist for Kono this week, although unlike her amateur/collegiate days, she needed to get time off from work to compete.

Welcome to life as a mid-amateur.

“I’m really starting to enjoy the game again,” said Kono, who won the 2024 Florida Women’s Mid-Amateur two weeks after being reinstated. “I enjoy it on my terms. I think I’ve done a pretty good job of managing my expectations and being OK with not hitting shots that are not perfect or great all the time. I still love the game.”

Kono, a product of the Hawaii State Junior Golf Association and the work of ex-USGA Executive Committee member Mary Bea Porter King, first broke onto the national scene as a 12-year-old in 2002 by qualifying for the first of six consecutive U.S. Girls’ Juniors. She would also compete in eight U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links and five U.S. Women’s Amateurs all before turning 22. She twice reached the semifinals – 2007 U.S. Girls’ Junior (Tacoma Country & Golf Club) and 2008 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links (Erin Hills) – and advanced to the quarterfinals on three other occasions.

Notable victims included former World No. 1 Lydia Ko in the Round of 16 at the 2011 U.S. Women’s Amateur and Lexi Thompson in the 2007 U.S. Girls’ Junior. That same championship, she had an epic 23-hole win over reigning U.S. Women’s Amateur champion and fellow Hawaiian Kimberly Kim. Twice she suffered quarterfinal losses to the eventual champions (UCLA teammate Brianna Do in the 2011 WAPL at Bandon Dunes, and Mina Harigae in the 2007 WAPL at Kearney Hill Links).

At the 2010 Curtis Cup at Essex Country Club, in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass., Kono contributed 2.5 points in a 5-point victory over Great Britain & Ireland. That side featured future LPGA Tour stars Thompson and Jessica Korda, as well as two-time USGA champion Jennifer Song, future LPGA Tour winner Cydney Clanton, Kimberly Kim, 2009 U.S. Women’s Amateur runner-up Jennifer Johnson and fellow Bruin Tiffany Lua.

“That was one of my [career] highlights,” said Kono, who produced one victory on the Symetra Tour (now Epson Tour).

But outside of that one pro victory, Kono’s life in the play-for-pay ranks never matched her amateur success. In 35 LPGA Tour starts, she made five cuts, earning slightly more than $26,000. Kono had better performances on the Symetra Tour, including her breakthrough year in 2018 when she made 14 of 18 cuts, including the victory at the Donald Ross Classic at the French Lick (Ind.) Resort.

When COVID hit in March of 2020, Kono had reached a crossroads.

“Every year my back would flare up and I’d be out a number of weeks,” she said. “COVID happened and I started exploring other options.”

A golfing buddy reached out and told her about Voloridge, whose CEO, David Vogel, happened to be a graduate of The Punahou School, the same private high school that produced President Barack Obama, two-time USGA champion Michelle Wie West, 2023 U.S. Women's Open champion Allisen Corpuz and one Stephanie Kono. Turns out Kono and Vogel each won the school’s chemistry award as juniors.

Over coffee, Kono and Vogel had a great chat, leading to a job opportunity with the investment firm. This was a complete 360-degree change for the former Bruin, who majored in art history at UCLA. But a life in golf had prepared her for this career change, and she was able to pass a series of quantitative tests.

“It’s hard when you only have 14 seconds per question,” she said laughing, knowing that competitive golfers can take a lot longer to execute a shot. “I did OK. It was interesting to start my [non-golf] professional career at 30. But I’ve learned so much in the last five years. I’m so thankful for this opportunity.”

Kono, who is halfway through obtaining her Master of Business Administration (MBA) via online classes from Boston University, started as an executive assistant and then was elevated to research assistant and eventually to her current role.

At the office, golf is rarely discussed, and few of her colleagues play. One of her close work friends started college at 14 and later obtained a Ph.D. in topology. To put it bluntly, Kono is surrounded by data scientist “nerds.”

“Funny, I don’t play golf for business,” she said. “What I really appreciated about this job and the people I work with was that for the first time ever, people were evaluating me for something other than my golf abilities. At work, I’m just the friend that plays a lot of golf. My best friends at work have no interest in playing golf.”

Weekends, however, take on a different motif. That’s when Kono plays and competes at The Dye Preserve, in her adopted hometown of Jupiter, Fla. Kono relocated to the posh south Florida community a decade ago because it was much easier to travel to tournaments. It doesn’t hurt that Florida has no state income tax.

Several top players – professionals and amateurs – call The Dye Preserve home. It’s where Kono met boyfriend Dion Nicely, the CEO of a small maritime shipping company and another native Hawaiian (he grew up in Kauai). Nicely caddied for Kono at the Women’s Mid-Am qualifier, but due to his work obligations, she is hiring a local MPCC caddie. Her parents also are flying in from Japan – they moved two years ago from Hawaii after retiring – to see her play for the first time in six years. Both were omnipresent during her halcyon days as an amateur.

It was Lori Kono, a former Continental Airlines flight attendant, who signed Stephanie up for golf lessons with a local pro at a strip mall. That led to a lifelong passion for the game.

Looking back, Kono said she wouldn’t trade anything for what transpired over her eight seasons as a professional or her time at UCLA, where she competed alongside future LPGA Tour pros Tiffany Joh, Sydnee Michaels and Ryann O’Toole. Joh is now the assistant coach for the fledgling U.S. National Development Program.

Now in her second stint as a high-level amateur, Kono has found some things a bit more challenging, with stamina at the top of the list. While she maintains a healthy lifestyle – Voloridge promotes things like burpee challenges – playing multiple rounds for a tournament takes a physical toll.

She explained to a colleague recently that if she captures the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur title it would require two practice rounds, two stroke-play qualifying rounds and six 18-hole matches over a nine-day period.

“That’s awful,” the colleague said.

Kono only could laugh, knowing full well what it takes to win a USGA title. At least she won’t have to compete against wunderkinds like she did in this year’s Florida Women’s Amateur, where she made the match-play cut, only to lose to UC Irvine sophomore Apple Zheng in the opening round.

At the Women’s Mid-Amateur, every competitor has similar backgrounds: family, jobs, kids and precious practice time. Nevertheless, competitive juices fire once play commences. Five-footers are still 5-footers, whether they’re for a paycheck or to qualify for match play.

“If I take a step back, there’s a difference between that and what I do now,” said Kono. “But when you are in the moment, it doesn’t feel that way. But I enjoy it. There’s no other feeling like it.”

David Shefter is a senior staff writer at the USGA. Email him at dshefter@usga.org.