“Hawaii’s First Lady of Golf” is gone.
Jacqueline “Jackie” Nolte Liwai Pung of Waikoloa died peacefully March 15 at Life Care Center of Kona, family members said Tuesday. She was 95.
Born on Dec. 13, 1921, in Honolulu, Pung first played golf at age 6. Her father, Jack Liwai, was a full-blooded Hawaiian and captain of the Hawaiian Golf Club. A teenage prodigy, she played on the Roosevelt High School boys team. Pung won three consecutive Hawaiian Women’s Amateur championships in 1937, 1938 and 1939, while a teen. She took the title again in 1948.
Pung ended a four-year retirement to win the 1952 U.