WAILUA — Shotaro Ban of California carded five birdies to Arizona’s George Cunningham’s three on Thursday at the John A. Burns golf tournament at Wailua Golf Course. But double bogeys on the second and 12th holes saw the leader after
WAILUA — Shotaro Ban of California carded five birdies to Arizona’s George Cunningham’s three on Thursday at the John A. Burns golf tournament at Wailua Golf Course.
But double bogeys on the second and 12th holes saw the leader after the first round drop to a tie for third while Cunningham moved from runner up to take the lead, tied with Andrej Bevins of New Mexico.
Playing in winds out of the southwest which gave everyone problems, Ban (72) finished the day tied with John Oda (70), a Moanalua High School graduate playing for University of Nevada-Las Vegas, for third place at a two-day 139.
The leader for the defending champion Golden Bears finished the day even par while Oda finished with a 2-under 70.
Cunningham finished the day 2-under par 70 to jump to a 6-under par 138 to tie with Bevins, who finished the second round with a 4-under par 68, the best round of the day.
California continues to lead the tournament with a two-day 573, challenged by New Mexico who jumped into the runner-up berth at 578 behind the strong performance from Bevins to tie with UNLV. UNLV was led by Oda and Kurt Kitayama’s (71). Texas A&M follows three strokes back at 581.
Host University of Hawaii slipped from the No.6 spot to No. 9 in the tournament, led on the second day by Skye Inakoshi carding even par for a two-day 147. Kauai native Justin “Pono” Tokioka carded an 82 for a two-day 164.
“It was a bit of a struggle,” said Justin Chu, Hawaii’s leader following the first round, at the crossing.
Chu, following a 1-under 71 opening round, slipped to 80 for a two-day 151.
The John A. Burns golf tournament plays its final round today with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m.
