WAILUA — Logan Gibson came from the playoffs to take Reece Valencia 2 Up in the 12 and Under Jr. Tees Championship. Gibson, petite in stature, boomed through 19 holes over Rilen Loo during the semifinals of the Mitchell Ota
WAILUA — Logan Gibson came from the playoffs to take Reece Valencia 2 Up in the 12 and Under Jr. Tees Championship.
Gibson, petite in stature, boomed through 19 holes over Rilen Loo during the semifinals of the Mitchell Ota match play tournament to meet top-seeded Reece Valencia, Sunday at the Wailua Golf Course.
With both boys battling through the junior tees, Gibson, with strong gallery support, finished with his 2 Up victory.
That was just one of eight winners to emerge from the match play tournament held in honor of one of the founders of the Kaua‘i Junior Golf Association program.
Top seeded Douglas Sears, earlier earning a spot in the 2009 Callaway Golf Junior World Championships, bested Aukai Kessler, 7 & 6, in the 12 and Under Jr. Tees “A” Flight.
During the two days of play, KJGA officials picked the No. 7 hole at Wailua for a closest-to-the-pin contest between the Jr. Tee golfers.
Kessler earned his way to the final round by besting Kainalu Saiki, 6 & 4, during the semifinals.
Top-seeded Landon Ishida topped the 11-12 “A” Flight with a 5 & 3 win over Keith Jose, Jose earning his way to the finals with a 2 & 1 win over Michael Miller, Saturday.
Bryden Salvador, a 4 & 3 winner over Trevor Kua, Saturday, continued to work and finished by defeating K.C. Loo, 2 Up in the 11-12 Championship round.
Naea Oda was joined by her parents, Kerry and Cindy who were coming off a successful Kaua‘i United Way Golf Tournament where they finished in a four-way tie for third place, late on the front nine.
“Nice, those green shirts,” Cindy said while noticing that Anea Oda and her competitor, Kalau Tanaka-Pessamino were dressed in almost identical lime-green outfits.
Oda finished by taking Tanaka-Pessamino, 5 & 3, both girls automatically advancing to the finals of the 11-12 Girls Championship class.
Top seeded Ken Miyata looked comfortable in his green outfit as well, taking Braeden Robley, 3 & 2, in the 13-14 “A” Flight competition. Robley advanced to the final round by finishing 1 Up over Kai Adachi in the Saturday semifinals.
Taylor Viquelia appeared to have the course under control during her practice round Saturday, and continued to handle the Wailua course during the final round, finishing 4 & 3 over Daezsa Tomas in the 13-14 Girls Championship flight.
“Both of those girls will hopefully be looking at the Kaua‘i High School golf program when school starts,” said Bryan Mamaclay, one of the KJGA officials. “They’ll both be freshmen.”
Pono Tokioka, earning a berth in the final by default over Dylan Balisacan, Saturday, worked his putter to its fullest en route to taking the 13-14 Championship, 2 Up over Reyn Morioka, top seeded in the flight.
“They’re starting to play some serious golf,” said Tokioka’s mom, Beth, at the No. 7 green who was following the pair.
“They started out fooling around, but now, it’s starting to sink in that someone could actually win this.”
Kyle Groves finished 3 & 2 over Daniel Miller II in the 15-18 “A” Flight, and Sean Mamaclay, top seeded in the 15-18 Championship, finished with a 4 & 3 win over Justin Uegawa, a member of the Kapa‘a High School golf program, that advanced to the final round with a 1 Up win over fellow Warrior golfer Weston Moniz, Saturday.
With the completion of the Mitchell Ota match play tournament, Bryan Mamaclay said the next major tournament for the Kaua‘i Junior Golfers will be at the Back-to-School tournament that will play Aug. 1 for the 12 and Under divisions, and Aug. 2 for the 13-18 divisions.
The tournament will be played at the Po‘ipu Bay Golf Course with the first groups tee-ing off starting at noon on both days.
For more information, visit the KJGA Web site at www.kjga.org.
