Hawai'i pro Casey Nakama, whose Casey Nakama Golf Development Center has produced many of Hawai'i's finest juniors, caddied for his student, 14-year-old Cyd Okino, at the 63rd U.S. Women's Open. Nakama, who also coached Michelle Wie in her formative years, wrote a diary for The Advertiser and had these thoughts after Okino finished her final four holes yesterday morning. Okino, Wie and former Hilo resident Kimberly Kim all finished at 10-over, missing the cut by six.

We had a good warmup. It was still a little wet and Cyd hit a couple flyers to the back part of the green. She got up and down on the first one. On the second she had an awkward lie on the back edge. It was only 15 feet away, but she couldn't get the club on the ball so she chipped long. The next hole was a long par-4 and she hit a hybrid 5-wood into the bunker and couldn't get up and down. On the 18th she laid up perfect, wedged to the front edge and her chip over the hump almost went in.

It was a good solid week. I don't think this will be the last time she'll play this tournament. A lot of stuff we practice at home and I tell her you've got to be able do this and now she knows why. ... It's real tough to teach because we cannot create these conditions. You can only get it at a tournament like this. This is the best tournament for women. All the rest of the tournaments this summer, the greens will not be this fast. Now she understands why there are certain things we work on.

When we first got here and we were taking a practice round there were lots of people around. For me, as a professional, I've played in front of crowds. But for Cyd, I was so happy for her to experience this. For players to play in front of big galleries ... there's no feeling like that. You've got to get used to it and take care of your business after.

There are players who can raise the level of their swings and hit the ball better in front of crowds and Cyd is one of those players. The first-tee jitters don't bother her that much. When her swing tightens up she starts hitting the ball real good. Now I can tell she has a future in golf. She enjoys it.

This tournament was just a carryover of the hype because the men's Open was so successful at Torrey Pines with Tiger Woods. Even during the practice round the place was just buzzing. We're in Minnesota and I can't imagine golf being this popular. It's exciting here. We were trying so hard to get to the weekend (make the cut) because I would love to see how Cyd would have been. It would have been a great experience for her.

As far as Michelle, she said the condition of her hand, everything was fine. Unfortunately, she had no excuses this week. She was playing good before this. She just had a bad week.

I saw her warm up on the range. Her swing is way too mechanical. She was going through drills the afternoon before the second round and at that point you should be done with drills. You should just be making sure your swing is smooth. Her move looks real stiff. I think they're going in the wrong direction. She has to forget all that stuff, get back to playing golf and use her instincts. When she did that, it was great.