Amy Spooner, 21, of Margate, Fla., won two of the first four holes on the back nine and hung on to beat Natalie Wong, 21, of Montebello, Calif., 2 and 1, in the final of the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship at Kapalua's Bay Course.

Spooner, who never trailed in the match, won the 11th hole with a par-4 and then rolled in a pivotal 20-foot birdie putt on the par 4 13th before Wong missed her birdie attempt from eight feet. It was Spooner's first birdie in four matches.

"That was one of the few putts I hit well the whole tournament," said Spooner, a semifinalist in 1997. "I knew I wasn't playing very well, but I took advantage of my opportunities."

Spooner jumped out to an early lead by winning holes 3 and 5 with par 3s. Wong closed the gap with a winning par on the sixth and the two headed to the last nine holes with Spooner owning a 1-up lead.

"I'm happy I got this far," said Wong. "I haven't had time to think about how close I was."

In her semifinal match, Spooner won four of the first eight holes en route to an easy 5 and 4 win against Stefanie Coleman, 23, of Tacoma, Wash. Spooner allowed Coleman to win only the 13th hole and closed out the match with a par on the 14th.

In the other semifinal, Wong rallied to defeat Stacy Prammanasudh, 18, of Enid, Okla., in 19 holes by making back-to-back birdies from 20 feet downhill. She played the last 10 holes in the equivalent of 2-under par.

"I just put my best stroke on them and didn't look up until I knew it had reached the hole," said Wong of her winning putts. "It takes the pressure off when you don't look and worry if it's going to go in. But I'm sure glad I chose to leave the flagstick in on that last putt (from the back fringe). It was rolling pretty fast."

"What can I do?," said Prammanasudh, who had led since the third hole. "She made everything. She must just save it up for the end."

But Spooner saved just a little bit more.

Elisha Au of Waikoloa, Hawaii was the qualifying medalist with a two-round total of 6-over-par 148. She and Bessie Phillips of Lantana, Fla. shared the individual best round of 1-over 72 on the second day of stroke play.

Wong defeated Au in one quarterfinal match that went 19 holes. Spooner ousted the long-hitting Phillips in another quarterfinal match, 2 and 1. Spooner's first two matches went 20 and 19 holes.

Au had upset defending champion JoJo Robertson of Roswell, N.M. in the second round, 3 and 2. Au was one of 18 Hawaiians in the starting field of 132. Seven Hawaiians were among the 32 to advance to match play, but only Au made it past the first round.

Andrea Meeker of Milton, Wis., scored the first hole-in-one in the 22-year history of this championship. It came during the second day of stroke play on the 17th hole, but Meeker failed to advance to match play. The cut for match play came at 17-over 159, with a 9-for-7 playoff to determine the final places.

Bessie Phillips (79-72) of Lantana, Fla., Colleen Cashman (74-79) of Plantation, Fla., and Barbara Lilley (79-80) of West Palm Beach, Fla., won the team portion of the championship representing the Miami area. In counting the best two scores for each day of stroke play, they had a total of 304, two ahead of the second-place team from the Spanaway, Wash., area. Thirty-four teams were entered.

The USGA accepted 1,075 entries for this championship. The WAPL will grow to a match play field of 64 in 1999.