Kaua‘i golfers rebounded from shaky opening day performances to control a tight Boys 15-18 Flight when the dust settled at the Puakea Junior Tour Series tournament, Sunday. Hosted by the Hawai‘i State Junior Golf Association, Wiley Yoshioka, a veteran golfer
Kaua‘i golfers rebounded from shaky opening day performances to control a tight Boys 15-18 Flight when the dust settled at the Puakea Junior Tour Series tournament, Sunday.
Hosted by the Hawai‘i State Junior Golf Association, Wiley Yoshioka, a veteran golfer for Kaua‘i High School, took the lead with a three-over-par 75, Saturday, to set the pace at the Puakea Golf Course.
But Yoshioka tumbled to the 9th finish Sunday, finishing with a five-over-par 77. That was good enough for third place overall at 152, a tie with Levi Miyashiro of Wailua who opened in third place with a 76 followed by a sixth finish Sunday at 76.
TJ Kua of Lihu‘e finished the opening day four strokes off the pace at 79 for seventh place, but rebounded Sunday, jumping to the top slot with an even par 72 to set the pace. The second round performance catapulted Kua to first overall at 151 in the field of 18 golfers.
Kaua‘i filled in the top three berths with Kua, Miyashiro and Yoshioka followed a stroke back by Jared Sawada of Mililani who finished at 153 (78-75). Paul Shoji of Honolulu and Tommy Yamashita of Kapolei finished tied at 155 to round out the leaders of that flight.
That was Kaua‘i’s limelight as three Kaua‘i golfers, Weston Moniz of Kapa‘a, Darren Valencia of Koloa and Sean Mamaclay of Kapa‘a filled in 13th through 15th places in the Boys 13-14 Flight.
Moniz finished tied with Eric Le of ‘Aiea at 171 (87-84) followed by Valencia at 179 (89-90) and Mamaclay at 181 (97-84).
Scott Yamashita of Kapolei rebounded to a first finish in Round 2 with an even par to take the flight at 149, sharing a three-way tie with Jonah Fonacier (77-72) of Mililani and Tyler Ota (73-76) of Honolulu.
Similarly, three Kaua‘i golfers filled in the 8th through 10th slots of the Boys 11-12 Flight as Kai Adachi (96-90) and Reyn Morioka (96-90) finished tied at 186 followed by Braeden Robley at 195 (102-93). All three young golfers are from Lihu‘e. Kalena Preus of Honolulu set the pace with first finishes en route to a 154 (78-76) total.
Rae-Lyn Morikawa, playing in the Girls 15-18 Flight, finished 11th (86-86-172) in a field dominated by Kristina Merkle of Honolulu who topped the flight at 142 (71-71) netting first finishes on both days with her one-under-par games. Morikawa also netted 14th overall in the Girls 13-18 Flight.
Kelli Oride, despite finishing second in two rounds of the Girls 13-14 Flight, settled for third at 157 (79-78), three strokes off the pace set by Cassy Isagawa of Maui (71-73-154). Oride also earned eighth overall in the Girls 13-18 Flight with her score in the field dominated by Merkle.
Taylor Viquelia of Lihu‘e finished third overall in the Girls 11-12 Flight on a 167 (84-55). Kaui Alexandra of Kapolei fafltered to a third finish in Round 2, but was able to get the top slot in the flight on a 155 (76-79).
Keegan Loo and Trevor Kua, both of Lihu‘e, filled in the third and fourth berths of the Boys 10 and Under Flight with scores of 172 (86-86) and 177 (82-95), respectively. Jino Sohn of Honolulu set the pace in that flight with a 140 (66-74).
Kaua‘i had no golfers participating in the Girls 10 and Under Flight.
Next stop for the HSJGA JTS tour is this weekend at the Mauna Lani Resort on the Big Island followed by the Kahili JTS on Maui.
Both tournaments are filled, but applications are still being accepted for the Kiahuna JTS which will be played at the Kiahuna Golf Course Nov. 3-4 in Po‘ipu.
Deadline application for that tournament is Oct. 24.
For more information, or for full tournament results, visit the HSJGA Web site at www.hsjga.org.
