Prince is king of State Open seniors

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

Most of the year Dean Prince is a mild-mannered golfer content to play with his buddies weekdays at Kapalua and his wife, Ginger, on the weekends.

But when the Hawai'i State Open rolls around, Prince turns into Super Senior. Since the tournament started a Senior Men's Division in 1996 Prince has won it every year — on four courses and three islands.

The Open returns to Makena's South Course this week. The Oakley Pro-Am is today and the 54-hole tournament starts tomorrow. The field will be cut Saturday.

Prince is the 64-year-old to beat. He won the senior title by a dozen shots last year in rain squalls at Makaha. Prince closed with an even-par 72 in ugly weather and was 4-under par for the tournament — the same score as Open Division champion Kevin Hayashi. Their tees were only 500 yards apart.

This guy is good, and has been for a long time. Prince, who moved from Honolulu to San Francisco when he was 9, won the Public Links National Championship in 1978, at the age of 40.

Since moving back to Hawai'i in 1990, he has finished second in the Championship Flight of both the Waikoloa and Maui Opens. He qualified for the senior tour's Ka'anapali Classic five times and the U.S. Senior Open twice, always with Ginger carrying his bag.

Prince also advanced to the final Senior PGA Qualifying School six times. He made the cut in half of those. In 1991, Prince led after the first round and was in second the next day when he signed an incorrect scorecard to get disqualified. The total of the card was correct, but one of the hole scores was not.

"It wasn't to be," Prince said. "That's when it was good to have Ginger, somebody to be there just for you."

He calls his wife the "greatest caddy in the state" and the reason he came home. He won the State Open's low amateur title one year while on vacation. Ultimately that led him to Lahaina, and Ginger.

"I played the first two rounds with Allan Yamamoto and I thought he was the greatest putter who had ever lived, just incredible," Prince recalls. "I even went out and bought the same putter. Then a guy told me Allan changes putters every day."

Part of Prince's prize was an entry into the Maui Open the following summer. At that tournament, he was introduced to Ginger, manager of Kapalua's Honolua Store. By August, they were married.

Life now consists of golfing on some of the most beautiful courses in the world with his wife/caddy, trying to qualify for senior events a couple times a year and going for a seven-peat at the Hawai'i State Open.