Stephanie Kono is the Hawai'i golf prodigy without the prodigious aura.

No million dollar contracts or designer gowns. No playing with the big boys at Waialae and the big girls at major venues.

Kono, 15, is going about this golf thing the way 99.999 percent of the junior golf world goes about it with one glaring exception: She has gotten so good so young, and has been seen so often, in so many places junior golfers go to be seen, that her college future is apparently all but assured.

Six weeks and a grade younger than Punahou classmate Michelle Wie — to say nothing of 9 inches and several pounds smaller — the 5-foot-4 Kono has her college career in motion before she starts sophomore golf.

"Steph has played in front of every (college) coach out there," said Kevin Ralbovsky, Kono's instructor since the end of 2000. "Every coach knows her and she can take her choice. They all will recruit her actively when the time comes. I don't think she'll have to worry about it anymore. She's already there."

How do you get "there" so quickly when you are a tiny, painfully polite and soft-spoken Honolulu girl who looks like she belongs in a glass case with the rest of the delicate dolls?

You do it by practicing and playing everyday, and asking for more ... "please." You embrace the pressure that suffocates others. You hit a golf ball 275 yards.

And, if you are the petite Kono, you lift two 50-pound dumbbells bench-press style, while lying on a fitness ball, three times a week. In between the three sets of 20 repetitions, you stay warm by throwing a football — right- and left-handed — to the target in a swing cage with the accuracy of your idol, Peyton Manning.

You win the women's state match play title at age 11, start weight training at 12 and complete the "Paradise Slam" — winning all three women's majors plus the Hawai'i State Open — by age 13.

Before you can drive, you win a national event and parlay it into a free trip to Germany where you win an international tournament.

Kono and her parents, Teruo and Lori, consider the work, time and financial commitment a small price to pay to secure a college future.

From there, who knows? At this point — Kono doesn't turn 16 until Sunday — how many really look beyond ... unless they make $10 million a year?

The Konos don't have to look far for incentive, and it doesn't appear in Wie's world-renowned shadow. A year ago Kamehameha's Mari Chun, another tiny, hard-working Hawai'i junior golfer, transformed one incredible summer of golf and lots of academic excellence into a $42,500-a-year athletic scholarship to Stanford University.

"The college coaches use the national tournaments as their means of recruiting," Ralbovsky said. "It's different from other sports. They don't take high school into consideration at all. You have to be at those national tournaments No. 1, and have to perform well so coaches see you, take some notes and recruit you.

"Most of the time girls and boys only have a two-year window when you can do that, but because Steph was so good so young, she's already done it for three years."

Kono will play the Polo Golf Junior Classic, scheduled for today through Friday, in Georgia. Morgan Pressel, the country's top-ranked junior girl, won last year and is now in the midst of trying to qualify for the LPGA tour. Other former champions include Paula Creamer, Grace Park and Tiger Woods.

INTENSIVE TRAINING

Kono trains at Ralbovsky's KMR School of Golf. Founded in 2001, the non-profit foundation is "solely for the purpose to train exceptionally talented junior golfers." Ralbovsky gathers donations and doesn't charge his hand-picked students.

Generally, it would cost about $2,000 a year for a player to take a weekly lesson from a PGA pro. The price to be paid at KMR is measured in time, devotion and the commitment to play in major events, wherever they might be.

Kids train every afternoon at Ko'olau Golf Club, working with Ralbovsky, hitting balls, playing and walking nine holes on the "nation's toughest course." When it gets dark there is weight training or yoga.

"The seven-day-per-week schedule has that jaw-dropping effect on average golfers," Ralbovsky said. "It actually helps me teach the weekend golfer, because it helps them realize not to expect too much from playing once a week. To get really good, you have to pay your dues."

Much of the summer is devoted to travel and the "right" tournaments. In Hawai'i, that means events that challenge players most, junior or open. On the Mainland, Ralbovsky primarily looks for American Junior Golf Association and U.S. Golf Association events, where national rankings and college scholarships are born.

The non-stop commitment is "always a snag" for prospective students, according to Ralbovsky, whose explanation is based on a long-term vision.

"It's really a short period of time. Four to five years in the big picture is small and there is so much upside," said Ralbovsky, who currently works with 14 juniors. "But it is hard. The financial part and the time sacrifice is not for everybody."

Kono's parents moved to Los Angeles from Japan, then came here before Stephanie was born to open Crescent Gallery gift store at Ward Warehouse. Since she "graduated" into prime-time junior golf, they have changed professions and now work in real estate and consulting.

They have not calculated golf options since she was an infant. To the contrary, Stephanie started her golf career by picking the sport out of the yellow pages at age 6.

Since then, "it's always been just golf," Stephanie said. Her passion for the game has never wavered from those early days hitting balls alone at Ala Wai.

She and her parents went to Ralbovsky five years ago "without a plan" but open to all options. Teruo was barely familiar with the game but knew "something didn't look right" with his daughter's swing.

They have enthusiastically supported Ralbovsky's vision since. It was the beginning of a beautiful partnership, and family friendship.

"We trust him completely, from the start," Teruo said. "Every time I see her play there is lots of improvement."

Ralbovsky initially saw "some ability" in Kono but also an "unconventional swing all over the place." He immediately made six drastic changes. Kono, born with beautiful tempo, took to them so quickly he knew he had something special.

'PIVOTAL POINT'

Six months later, Kono made the Jennie K. Invitational — the first women's major of the year — her inaugural adult event. She won her second, at age 11.

Not yet 100 pounds and barely 5 feet at the time, Kono became the youngest State Women's Match Play Champion (Cyd Okino broke her record this year). She took the final 6 and 5, putting an exclamation point on it by acing the par-4 10th hole.

"That was the real pivotal point for her," Ralbovsky recalled. "Then everybody realized we've got something real special. If she wants to pursue it, she can go to the very top."

Kono barely remembers that week she burst into Hawai'i's golf consciousness.

"It seems so far back," she said. "It was a time when I didn't know what was going on really. I was playing well and Kevin was there, so I didn't have to think a lot."

Her game is so pure she often takes thinking, and even watching the ball, out of the equation. She relentlessly hits the ball solid and straight. The only adventure in her game comes around the greens, and she is now relentlessly working on that.

With her, it hardly looks like work, though. She is exceptionally composed, though she said her emotions show up more now. "When I was younger I didn't really think," Kono said. "Now I get more upset ... not upset, but if I make a putt I feel more happy and if I miss I feel more sad. But I can get over it pretty quickly. Like when I step up to the next tee I'm over it."

Apparently, she puts the same positive energy into academics. Her worst high school grade is an A-minus and there has only been one. Her schedule includes trigonometry, chemistry, ancient history and honors Japanese.

More than a year before a college coach can even approach her, Kono's college resume is airtight, according to Ralbovsky — who can and has talked to college coaches about her.

"They're looking at two things," he said. "They're looking at a national junior golf resume and how good it is — AJGA and USGA events. Almost everything else doesn't count. And then they are looking at good, solid academics — a balance between the two. Often you get too much of one and not the other."

Kono picked her school years ago, much the way she picked her sport. She visited UCLA's Westwood campus when she was 12. "I've always wanted to go to UCLA, always thought about it," Kono said. "At first, I just liked the colors, but now I know it's a good school."

The Bruins have won two NCAA championships and are currently ranked second nationally. But that is far off. Kono still has three seasons and summers of high school and junior golf left.

Lots can change. She has put up five inches and put on 23 pounds — of muscle and chocolate ice cream — since winning that memorable match-play title. She has traveled all over the U.S. and to Europe, shot a 65, and been ranked in the top 20 nationally three years.

The focus now is simply to get better and play better in more prestigious events against the best juniors in the world.

The challenge is daunting. As you improve, increments of progress shrink, yet are much more difficult to achieve."When I was little, everything seemed to go well and there was steady improvement," Kono said. "But last year and this year it's been harder to keep it going and keep improving. I am improving, it just seems harder."

Kono apparently thrives on the challenge. There are no signs of burnout. If anything, she would like to play more golf, particularly if the travel allows her to feed her shopping habit in general, and penchant for Abercrombie and Fitch, in particular.

Even the intimidation of bigger players with better reputations no longer scares her. She embraces pressure. Kono insists it is the one element of golf she enjoys the most.

"To get under pressure is the best. It's the reason you play," she said. "You know you're not always going to come through, but it just makes you work harder for the next time. Even if you don't win, the best part is being under that pressure. When you're out there you just want to get it over with, but when you're done you want to go back out there and do it again."

Kono will have many, many more opportunities.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.