Suzuki, Nishimoto elected to golf hall

By Bill Kwon
Special to the Advertiser

Lance Suzuki, who has won 43 tournaments, and Dan Nishimoto, called a "poster boy" for fast playing, were inducted into the Hawai'i Golf Hall of Fame yesterday. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

It was the 1978 Navy-Marine Open, Suzuki recalled yesterday during his induction into the Hawai'i Golf Hall of Fame along with Kaua'i's Dan Nishimoto at the Hawai'i Prince Hotel.

"I've been lucky to win a few golf tournaments," Suzuki said, "but the one I remember more than any else was the Navy-Marine Open which John Kalinka won."

Suzuki had just eagled the par-5 final hole and Kalinka needed to sink a slippery 5-foot downhill putt for par to avoid a playoff. Kalinka had been struggling with his putter all day in shooting a final-round 74 to allow Suzuki back in.

Kalinka sank his putt to win by one stroke. And Suzuki was the first to applaud when the ball disappeared into the cup.

An observer by the green, a guy obviously rooting for Kalinka, a fellow Navy man, noticed Suzuki's display of sportsmanship. He asked Suzuki's caddy why Suzuki congratulated Kalinka instead of expressing disappointment.

"You had to see what happened before then," Suzuki explained.

"Kalinka was missing short putts all day, missing them to the right. He had the same putt at 18 to win, a hard slider right. He had to make it and he did."

For Suzuki, that's what golf is all about. Not just winning. But recognizing a great golf shot, especially one under a lot of pressure.

"It was the most special competitive moment I've ever had," said Suzuki, who now joins the late Kalinka as a member of the Hawai'i Golf Hall of Fame.

It says something for Suzuki, whose 43 tournament victories include eight in the Mid-Pacific Open and Waikoloa Open and five in the JAL Rainbow Open, besides multiple victories in the Hawai'i Pearl Open and the Army and Navy-Marine events when they included pros in the field.

Getting inducted into the hall evokes mixed feelings, said Suzuki, who turns 51 on June 16. "It's like a passing of time," he said. But he feels his competitive days are far from over, although 1996 might have seemed like his "expiration date" to others.

That was when his remarkable streak of at least one tournament victory for 23 straight years came to an end.

Suzuki is also deeply involved with junior golf programs at Kahuku and Olomana with fellow pro Casey Nakama.

"Danny's a good friend and it's an honor to be inducted with him," said Suzuki.

Nishimoto said he felt even more honored getting inducted at the same time with Suzuki. "He's the top dog of my generation in golf."

And an "old" fellow senior now as well.

"I don't feel 54. I'm not ready to give up my competitive golf just yet," said Nishimoto, who qualified and played in the U.S. Senior Open the last two years, finishing 34th last year at the Salem (Mass.) Country Club. He also qualified on a Monday to play in two other Senior PGA Tour events, including the 1998 Ka'anapali Classic.

One of golf's fastest players — he could be a "poster boy" for fast golf, says Suzuki — Nishimoto won the Kaua'i Open, a special tournament for him, five times, the first in 1970 as a University of Hawai'i senior, in beating a professional field.