Posted on: Thursday, October 3, 2002

Phengsavath leads amateurs into Burns Cup

Advertiser Staff

Joe Phengsavath finished No. 1 in the final 2002 Amateur Point Standings, which qualifies players for the John A. Burns Challenge Cup.

Phengsavath earned 1,262.5 points at the 13 designated tournaments. He edged Brandan Kop — his boss at Kop Distributors — by 37› points. Del-Marc Fujita (1,127.5) is third, followed by Randy Shibuya (985), Shannon Sibayan (812.5) and Mark West (696.67).

The top 12 take on a team of Aloha Section PGA professionals at the annual Challenge Cup, Nov. 25-26, at Mid-Pacific Country Club. The event is played under a "Ryder Cup" format, with team matches the first day and singles the final day.

Phengsavath had automatically qualified as the State Amateur Champion. So had Travis Toyama, the Manoa Cup champion, who finished 19th in points. From there, players are selected based on points. The committee has the right to select a 12th player, but usually follows the point standings.

Rounding out the first 12 are Blaine Kimura, Norman-Ganin Asao, Jonathan Ota, Ryan Koshi, Tommy Kim and Jarett Hamamoto. Clayton Gomi, who also works at Kop Distributors, is 13th

The professional team will be announced later.