Stubblefield captures second Mid-Pac title

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

LANIKAI — In a harmonic convergence of timeless proportions, Larry Stubblefield won his second Mid-Pacific Open three decades after his first, and a day before entering the Hawai'i Golf Hall of Fame.

Larry Stubblefield hugs his wife Alexis after winning the Mid-Pacific Open. Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser

He was the only player under par in the 38th annual tournament. That's one more than in the 37th tournament. Only five players broke par on the final day, including amateur Joe Phengsavath.

None came close to Stubblefield, whose early pro tour experiences turned him into an insurance executive. Last year he turned 50 and regained his professional status. He has been "paying a little more attention to my game" since.

A short-game lesson with Hilo Muni's Rodney Acia also helped, transforming Stubblefield's "gouges" into soft chip shots. The right-hander got it close enough over the weekend to sink more than enough left-handed putts — a quirk he has fine-tuned to an art the past 20 years because "I just couldn't putt before."

Stubblefield grew up on Mid-Pacific, and lived off the second tee. He won here in 1972, and enough other tournaments since to get inducted today into the Hall of Fame. But yesterday, he couldn't remember the last time he was even in contention.

Now it will be easy.

He took a two-shot advantage into the final round and birdied the second and third holes. Keith Kollmeyer, his closest pursuer, bogeyed them. At the turn, Stubblefield was 6 under — four ahead of Dan Nishimoto and five up on Nakama and Louie Lee V, who tied for seventh (73-290) in his first pro event.

Nakama, who won here in 1996 and was second last year, finally broke through his putting block by draining birdies on the 10th and 11th. He and Stubblefield both bogeyed the 14th and Stubblefield bogeyed the 15th. When Nakama lobbed his approach shot to a foot on the 16th and sank the birdie putt, his deficit was just one.

Two shots later, it was over. Nakama fanned his drive right on the 17th, sliced his second shot out of bounds and eventually took a triple-bogey 7.

"You just had to stay with that (second) golf shot and I came up on it," Nakama said. "It was little bit of a shaggy lie and the ball just flew out there on me. Under those circumstances, if anything I should have missed the ball short. That was a mental error. Just how it goes sometimes."

That dropped him into a tie for second at 288, with eight-time champion Lance Suzuki (70) and Brian Sasada, whose 71 included an eagle and triple bogey.

Stubblefield hit his drive on the 17th perfectly, stuck his second shot 15 feet below the hole and slid the birdie putt in. Suddenly he was five up and cruising to his Mid-Pacific championship sequel.

"Every 30 years would be good," Stubblefield said. "This is good enough. I may retire."

• SHORT PUTTS: Mike Ukauka was low amateur at 73-291, followed by Paul Kimura (72-293). ... Maurice Nitta (79-308) won the A Flight and Michael Nakata (78-318) the B Flight. ... Larry Stubblefield collected an extra $600 for capturing the inaugural Mid-Pacific Seniors Flight. ... Former champion Deron Doi, a school teacher on Kaua'i, had to withdraw from the tournament to walk the picket line.