AROUND THE GREENS
Youths bring new life to Hawai'i's golf scene

By Bill Kwon

Jarett Hamamoto, right, who recently won his second consecutive state high school golf championship, credits much of his success to his cousin and golf instructor, Kevin Hayashi. Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser

The face of local golf is getting younger and younger. The young guns have taken over.

There is 12-year-old Michelle Wie, continuing to register first-ever whatevers in almost every tournament she enters. Stephanie Kono is another precocious 12-year-old who can drive a golf ball 250 yards.

Wie, who will be an eighth-grader at Punahou School this fall, and Kono, who will be in seventh, are still too young to play for the Buffanblu golf team. Imagine what a powerhouse team Punahou will have when they become eligible. The only question is, will they compete with the boys' or the girls' team?

And don't forget 14-year-old Kurt Nino, who lost to Toyama in the semifinals after knocking off four-time Manoa Cup champion Brandan Kop. Will the Damien youngster be making "El Nino" headlines in the future?

But you ain't seen nothing yet, according to Olomana teaching pro Casey Nakama.

Two years ago, before anyone heard of Wie, he told me that he had this 10-year-old girl in his junior golf program who could already out-drive any female locally.

Nah, you're kidding, I told him.

He wasn't. He was talking about Wie.

Well, here comes Casey with one of his kids again: "I got this 10-year-old you're not going to believe. He's shooting in the 70s from the white tees. He's going to be another whiz kid, just like Michelle."

I believe, Casey, I believe.

The new kid on the block is Bradley Shigezawa — also a Punahou student — who will be attempting to qualify for the Junior World golf championships today and tomorrow at Hawai'i Country Club.

Nakama urged Shigezawa to try out for the Manoa Cup to face older competition. The youngster shot a credible 80 at O'ahu Country Club, but did not qualify for the 64-player field. Considering 80 was good enough to qualify last year, it was a good showing.

Toyama will also be trying to qualify for the Junior Worlds, which will be in San Diego next month. Toyama's age division (15-17) has its local qualifying at Makaha Valley today and tomorrow.

You have to wonder how he can return to junior golf competition after winning the Manoa Cup, emblematic of the state amateur match play championship. It has to be an odd feeling. But Toyama says he can get used to it.

It's going to be an experience felt by more and more junior golfers in years to come.

Hawai'i's junior golf programs have developed many outstanding players over the years. But now, they are getting better and becoming more competitive at a younger age.

Nakama said he feels the "Tiger Factor" has had a lot to do with golf's new, young look. More kids are taking up the game because of Tiger Woods, their Pied Piper.

"There's more competition and players are practicing more," Nakama said.

Times have changed

Lori Castillo Planos, a two-time national women's public links champion, also is not surprised: "When I was growing up, golf was the weirdest sport you could play. Golf is cool now."

Similar thoughts were echoed by Ralden Chang, a two-time Junior World champion:

"(Golf) wasn't highly thought of as a sport in school. Guys would ask me, 'You on the golf team?' like you were on the chess team or something."

Advanced technology in golf equipment is also a factor, according to Planos. Kids are bombing their drives. They can see results from all that hard work and practice. It's encouraging them to stick with it, she said.

It has paid off in major tournament victories for Toyama, the young guns' latest poster boy, and for Waiakea High graduate Jarett Hamamoto, who recently won the state boys title for the second year in a row.

Hamamoto is one of the "older" guys now. And no more golf for him until this fall when he enters the Air Force Academy after receiving a congressional appointment from U.S. Rep. Patsy Mink. Basic training begins the end of this month.

Hamamoto credits much of his success to his cousin and golf instructor Kevin Hayashi. They began working together when Hamamoto was 8.

"He was always a hard worker," Hayashi said. "He might have a quiet disposition, but inside he's a fierce competitor."

Hamamoto knows how lucky he is having grown up in a junior golf hotbed.

"We've had good coaches and we were only five minutes away from the (Hilo Municipal) golf course," he said.

Waiakea's Leah Whiting, the girls state champion who is going to Oregon State, also was one of Hayashi's prized pupils on the Big Island.

"They were both my students. That's why I requested to play with them one last time," said Hayashi, former teaching pro at Hilo Municipal who is now back with Pearl Country Club.

That opportunity came in the David S. Ishii Foundation benefit at Pearl last week. Not surprisingly, the "Dream Team" of Hayashi, Hamamoto and Whiting won the scramble event with an 18-under-par gross score of 54. They posted four eagles, including two by Whiting and one by Hamamoto.

Bill Kwon can be reached at bkwon@aloha.net.