Thursday, July 21, 2005 By RUSS HELD
rheld@repub.comLONGMEADOW - Born in Indonesia.

Lives in California.

And feeling right at home at Longmeadow Country Club.

Rory Hie, 16, of Lakewood, Calif., is one of the world’s top junior golfers and yesterday was among 32 golfers to win first round matches at the U.S. Junior Amateur Golf Championship.

Hie was a 2-and-1 winner over Aaron Peterson of Ann Arbor, Mich., and will meet David Chung of Fayetteville, N.C. today in the second round. Chung, a runner-up last year, was a 4-and-3 winner over Nick Taylor of Canada.

Hie is making his debut at the 58th national championship for males under 18, a week after he played in his first United States Golf Association championship.

Last week, Hie trailed 3 down with three holes to play before he won in extra holes at the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship. He reached the tournament’s quarterfinals Friday before losing and then heading to Longmeadow.

“Last week gave me a lot of confidence, it taught me never to give up,” said Hie, who has former club champion Greg Fisk of East Longmeadow as a caddie. “I had to birdie my last hole, then the first playoff hole just to qualify for this.”

Hie, who has been ranked second nationally for the last three years in the Golfweek rankings, was 2-down after nine holes yesterday. He won with eagle at the par-5 10th hole and par at No. 11 to square the match.

“I was just waiting to get into that zone and it finally clicked for me, at the 10th hole,” Hie said.

He made a 10-footer for a halving par save at the 12th and later won Nos. 15 and 16 with par and clinched with a par halve at the 17th.

Hie’s background includes winning The Golf Channel’s Drive, Chip and Putt title, first-team All-America honors and a spot on the 2004 Canon Cup team.