PO‘IPU — A strong 3-under par 69 in the first round helped T.J. Kua earn medalist honors at the U.S. Amateur Public Links Qualifier, Saturday at the Po‘ipu Bay Golf Course. Nani Yanagi of Hilo took medalist honors with a
PO‘IPU — A strong 3-under par 69 in the first round helped T.J. Kua earn medalist honors at the U.S. Amateur Public Links Qualifier, Saturday at the Po‘ipu Bay Golf Course.
Nani Yanagi of Hilo took medalist honors with a 4-over par 76 on the women’s side, the Big Island junior golfer needing to play just 18 holes, while the men battled breezy afternoon winds in their 36-hole competition.
Allisen Corpuz of Honolulu also qualified via a one-hole playoff win against Ciera Min of Hilo after both golfers finished with a 77, just a stroke back of Yanagi. Min took the First Alternate spot.
During the playoff, the wind played with Min, her ball going out of bounds while Corpuz patiently waited for nene to finish crossing the No. 18 fairway before ending the round.
Weather conditions of breezy trades in the afternoon and wet bouts in the opening rounds challenged the field as Kua, after topping the field with a 69 opening round, tumbled to a 6-over par 78 in the second round, finishing with a 3-over par 147.
Mark Scheibach of Bermuda Dunes, Calif., coming off a playoff loss for the First Alternate spot in the U.S. Open Qualifier, roared back and despite ending with a second round 77 with Jonathan Ota of Lihu‘e, squeezed out the Alternate spot with a two-round 149 (72-77), just two strokes off the pace.
“I can still keep up with the young ones,” Ota quipped, smiling to Mary Bea Porter-King, president of the Hawai‘i Junior Golf Association, while making his way from the No. 7 hole.
Ota finished with a two-round total 150 (73-77).
Cory Oride, playing with Kua on the University of Hawai‘i men’s golf team, finished the opening round tied with Scheibach at even par, but shot a second-round 79 to finish fourth at 151.
Pono Tokioka, the Kaua‘i High School lead boys team golfer, finished fifth at 156 (75-81), followed three strokes back by Kapa‘a golf coach Juston Thomas (84-75-159), Thomas carding the best second-round score at 75.
Ben Ellsworth, Mike Garcia and Clesson Pang tied at 161, Bronzon Winters, a University of Hawai‘i-Hilo golfer, finished at 163, tying with Kekoa Morgan of Kapa‘a.
Kenji Miyata, a strong Kapa‘a High School golfer, finished tied with Jaben Schalk at 170, followed by Kaua‘i Junior Golfer Keegan Loo (174), P.J. Medeiros (180), Reyn Morioka (181) and Mark Morioka (183).
Kaua‘i High School girls golfer Taylor Viquelia (39-43-82) and Daezsa Tomas (39-48-87) filled the first two Kaua‘i spots in the women’s tournament, ending seventh and eighth, respectively.
They were just behind Charlee Kapiloho of Honolulu, whose 79 was good for the Second Alternate spot. Cyd Okino also shot a 79, while Maggie Min shot 81 for sixth place.
Naea Oda (45-49-94), Cindy Oda (50-47-97) and Carol Pratt (49-56-105) filled out the card.
Qualifying players now advance to play in the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship and the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship at Brandon Dunes Resort in Bandon, Ore., June 27 to July 2.
The qualifying events at the Po‘ipu Bay Golf Course were two of approximately 20 held around the United States in the next few weeks. The APL and WAPL are two of the 13 national championships conducted annually by the United States Golf Association.
Visit www.usga.org or call the Hawai‘i State Junior Golf Association at (808) 532-0559 for more information.
