LIHU‘E — T.J. Kua and Corey Oride each finished with solid rounds on the final day of the 2009 Turtle Bay Resort College Invitational at Turtle Bay Resort in Kahuku. The two Kaua‘i golfers — Kua from Lihu‘e and Oride
LIHU‘E — T.J. Kua and Corey Oride each finished with solid rounds on the final day of the 2009 Turtle Bay Resort College Invitational at Turtle Bay Resort in Kahuku. The two Kaua‘i golfers — Kua from Lihu‘e and Oride a Kaua‘i High School graduate — led the University of Hawai‘i golf team to an eighth place finish, Wednesday.
Oride, a freshman, put up scores of 70, 75 and a final-round 71 to finish the event at an even-par 216, placing him in a tie for 13th place among the 64 individuals who completed the event. Oride sunk a total of eight birdies in the tournament, including four in the third round alone.
Sophomore Kua put up scores of 72, 75 and 72 for a three-over par 219 and a tie for 18th place.
The five-man Warriors team consisting of Kua, Oride, Kamden Brakel, Jared Sawada and Alexander Chu ended the tournament at 20-over par. San Diego State was the runaway winner, finishing each round with the top score among the 12 teams and ending up at 26-under par.
Three other UH players competed as individuals. Freshamn Daniel Koge, who shot a 237, freshman Henry Park (243) and sophomore Pono Calip (252).
San Diego State’s Alex Kang and Andrew Cooley tied for the tournament lead, each closing with a seven-under par 209. A sudden-death playoff was played on the third hole, where Kang come out on top to win the tournament’s individual title. Those two, plus Johan Carlsson, Tom Berry and Tyler Morris finished with a comfortable 18-stroke lead over second-place University of Illinois.
Santa Clara University finished third, followed by Long Beach State, New Mexico State, Georgia State, British Columbia University, UH, Hawai‘i Pacific University, Air Force, BYU-Hawai‘i and Osaka Gakuin University.
The University of California-Davis took home the women’s team title, finishing with a four-over par 868. The UH Wahine team came in a tie for 12th place in the 18-team field.
Kaua‘i native Miki Ueoka, a Santa Clara team member, closed the event with a 73 to finish with a seven-over par 223 and a tie for 19th place.
Southern California’s Lizette Salas dominated the individual leaderboard, shooting rounds of 71, 67 and 70 for an eight-under par 208. San Jose State’s Cristina Corpus and UC-Davis’ Amy Simanton tied for second place with totals of 213.
The UH team was made up of Corie Hou, Brigitte Baker, Erika Lundberg, Brittany Bomar and Kaili Britos, finishing at 62-over par with a 926 total.
For the third time this season, senior Corie Hou was the top finisher for UH, sinking eight birdies.
The competitors played the final day on the George Fazio Course after playing the Arnold Palmer course over the first two rounds, which suited the Warriors well as the team improved 14 strokes over its second-round score.
This tournament marked the end of the Warriors’ fall season. They will return in the spring by co-hosting the 20th Mauna Lani Invitational with UH-Hilo, Feb. 3-5, in Kohala Coast.
This tournament was also the last of the Rainbow Wahine’s fall season. They will return to compete in the Aztec Spring Invitational, Feb. 14-16 in San Diego, Calif.
