WAILUA — Team Atlanta took the lead 11-5 over Team Kaua‘i on the opening day of the Atlanta-Kaua‘i Team Challenge, Thursday. A Four-Ball Match play on the front nine of the Wailua Golf Course and a Foursome Match play on
WAILUA — Team Atlanta took the lead 11-5 over Team Kaua‘i on the opening day of the Atlanta-Kaua‘i Team Challenge, Thursday.
A Four-Ball Match play on the front nine of the Wailua Golf Course and a Foursome Match play on the back nine gave each team the possibility of earning two points for each match.
“Team Kaua‘i had a rocky start on day one,” said Mary Bea Porter-King of the Kaua‘i Junior Golf Association.
The Kaua‘i duo of Keith Jose and K.C. Loo beat out Atlanta’s Matthew Collins and K.J. Smith in Four-Ball play, joining the pair of Kalau Tanaka-Pessimino and Taylor Viquelia and Levi Miyashiro and Justin Uegawa for Team Kaua‘i’s three points on the front nine.
Miyashiro and Uegawa finished the day as the only Team Kaua‘i pair to win both the Four-Ball and Foursomes play, the duo being joined by the team of Pono Tokioka and Ken Miyata for Kaua‘i’s two points in Foursomes.
Miyashiro and Uegawa defeated the team of Tyler Brantley and Dylan Coffey, 2 and 1 in Four-Ball play and 2 and 1 in Foursomes.
The Jose/Loo duo downed the Collins/Smith pair 5 and 4 in Four Ball play and the Tanaka-Pessimino/Viquelia pair defeated the Jones/Withers combination 3 and 2 in Four-Ball play.
The Tokioka/Miyata team finished 1 up on Wyatt Larkin and Bailey Up in Foursomes.
“Forty-eight points are there for the taking in Singles Match play, today, with the ability of earning one point on the front nine, one on the back nine and one overall,” King said.
Glenn Tamagawa, captain of the Team Kaua‘i squad, met with his group following the disappointing opening round.
“He said, I told them ‘never give up, and it is not over until it is over,’ quoting the words of the great baseball player Yogi Berra,” King said.
One of the new features of this year’s Challenge is having a volunteer walking announcer following each group and phoning in results as they are achieved, King said.
The Atlanta-Kaua‘i Team Challenge tees off today for the second day of action at 11:30 a.m. at the Wailua Golf Course.
Full tournament results can be found on
www.atlantajuniorgolf.org.
