Soranaka, Hayashi and Prince take State Open titles
By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
MAKAHA — Out of the relentless squalls that punished the final round of the Williams & Association Hawai'i State Open yesterday blew two relentless guys and one new face.
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Honolulu's Sally Soranaka ended Christel Tomori's three-year reign as the Women's champion, closing with a 5-over-par 77. Soranaka, who had won mini-tour events but never before at home, finished the 54-hole tournament at 12 over to beat 12-year-old Michelle Wie by three.
Kevin Hayashi is the first to win three straight Open titles.
Hilo's Kevin Hayashi shook the rain and wind off to close with par 72 for a four-shot victory. Hayashi is the first player in the tournament's 28-year history to win three consecutive Open Division titles.
But the most relentless golfer at Makaha Resort yesterday might have been Lahaina's Dean Prince (72-212), who captured the Senior title by a dozen shots over Hilo's Rodney Acia. Prince has won all six Senior titles. His winning score was the same as Hayashi's, from tees that were 500 yards shorter (7,000 to 6,500).
Hayashi and Prince were the only golfers to finish under par in the Open's return to Makaha after a 15-year absence. Rain barely touched the course the first two days and the wind was just a whisper. But yesterday, rain blew through the valley every half hour, followed by uproarious winds.
Soranaka, at 17 one of the elders in the women's field, dodged the deluge and Wie's late charge. They were tied at the turn, with Tomori two back and struggling.
"Nothing was going right today," said Tomori, who plans to return to the Futures Tour. "Nothing."
She shot 85 and finished fourth, a shot behind 1998 State Stroke Play champion Dawn Kaneshiro (82-235).
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Soranaka left them all behind by making six straight pars after the turn. When Wie double bogeyed the sixth hole (her 15th), she was five back. One-putts for par on the next two holes cut her deficit to two going into the last hole, a 147-yard par-3 over water.
Sally Soranaka ends Christel Tomori's three-year reign.
Soranaka drove the green and easily two-putted for par, while Wie charged her birdie putt and closed with bogey.
"I didn't really think I'd lose to her because I've played with her before," Soranaka said. "I just focused on playing better on the front because I'd messed up the first two days."
Soranaka's first local victory came two days before she will leave for the Futures Tour Qualifying School.
Hayashi entered the final round tied for first with amateur Brandan Kop, who possesses one of the state's most envied short games. Surprisingly, that phase of the game let him down yesterday.
Hayashi three-putted the ninth hole and still made the turn at one under. At that point, the Hilo Muni pro had a seven-shot lead over Kop, whose putting had deserted him. Pearl Country Club pro Beau Yokomoto was second, three behind Hayashi, who didn't know where anyone in front of him stood. He stayed with Plan A.
"With the lead Brandan and I had, I thought if I shot even par no one else could beat me because of the weather, and the pins were really tough," Hayashi said. "If they could, I would just congratulate them. The conditions were kind of challenging."
Yokomoto, who was four under early yesterday, would finish tied for fourth with Mike Rich. California pro Will Yanagisawa shot 72 to take second.
Hayashi won his seventh tournament of 2001 and now will devote himself to the Sony Open in Hawai'i, which he qualified for by clinching Aloha Section PGA Player of the Year honors.
Kop's 81 also cost him the amateur title. Casey Kobashigawa, 15, from Wai'anae, shot 72-219 to beat Kop by two.
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SHORT PUTTS: Total purse for the State Open was $58,000. Kevin Hayashi won $7,250 for capturing the Championship Flight. Dean Prince and Dawn Kaneshiro — low pro in the Women's Flight — won $1,700 each. ... Low amateurs (Casey Kobashigawa, Sally Soranaka and John King) won $500 in gift certificates.
