New greens await Senior PGA players at Turtle Bay
Advertiser Staff
It might be a subtle change, but when the Senior PGA Tour swings back here for the Turtle Bay Championship next month, golfers will see something they have never seen in a professional tournament.
Since the inaugural Turtle Bay Championship was won by Hale Irwin last year, The Palmer Course has replaced all 18 greens with the new Sea Isle 2000 paspalum grass. Turtle Bay is the second U.S. course to put this particular strain of paspalum on its greens.
This will be the first PGA Tour ever played on Sea Isle 2000 greens. It is also the first tour event played on a course that is 100 percent paspalum. Palmer's tees, fairways and rough are Seashore paspalum.
Turtle Bay superintendent Mike Honma says there is very little grain, "if any," in the Sea Isle. The Bermuda grass it replaced is known for its grain, which radically affects the direction of putts.
The new grass requires less water and fertilizer and Honma anticipates easier maintenance. Paspalum traces its "roots" — the grass develops from sprigs not seeds — to the coastal sand dunes of South Africa. It is known for its survival skills, tolerating salt water, drought and low light.
The Palmer Course, designed by Arnold Palmer and Ed Seay, opened in 1992 as The Links at Kuilima. The second Turtle Bay Championship will be Oct. 4-6. .
Castillo Jr. leads Sasada
Ron Castillo Jr. padded his Aloha Section PGA Player of the Year lead with his victory in last week's Match Play Championship.
Going into the final event — Williams & Associates Hawai'i State Open, Nov. 15-17 at Makena — Castillo leads Brian Sasada by 165 points. Castillo has collected 810 points in the first six events. Sasada has 645 and Kevin Hayashi, the 2001 Player of the Year, 500. Brendan Moynahan (495) and Beau Yokomoto (475) are next.
Amateurs have one event left to earn points for the Gov. John A. Burns Challenge Cup. The tournament, with teams of amateurs and pros playing each other in a Ryder Cup format, will be at Mid-Pacific Country Club later this year.
The leaders after the Hickam Invitational are Joe Phengsavath (1,262.5 points), Brandan Kop (1,225), Del-Marc Fujita (1,127.5) and Mark West (696.67). Phengsavath automatically qualified for the Cup by winning the State Amateur Championship.
Shannon Sibayan, who won last weekend's Hickam Invitational, moved up to eighth (637.5). Michelle Wie has earned 264 points and is 21st.
Rarick to play at Challenge
Former University of Hawai'i golfer Cindy Rarick, who represents the Waikoloa Resort, will participate in the inaugural Waikoloa Women's Golf Challenge.
The tournament benefits the newly formed Hawai'i State Women's Golf Foundation. The HSWGF was founded to help girls and women improve their games and enhance their future through golf.
That is also the idea behind this exclusive 36-hole tournament, which will be played at Waikoloa's Beach Resort Oct. 25-27. Players enter as individuals and are paired by a blind draw. The format is Net Best Ball of the twosome.
A private golf clinic with Rarick is scheduled Saturday afternoon. The clinic, hotel accommodations, a spa treatment, all meals — including a Saturday "Chefs' Cook-Off" and auction — and the draw party and awards lunch are included in the entry fee of $775.
Entry deadline is Monday, Oct. 7. For more information, call Waikoloa Director of Golf Dave Pritchett (808-886-5172).
Senior women tee off at Waikele
A field of 133 golfers 50 and older will play in the 24th annual Hawai'i State Women's Golf Association Senior Championship Monday at Waikele.
Mona Kim-Lee will try to win her third consecutive title. She is one of 23 golfers in the 56-60 flight. There are also flights for golfers ages 50-55, 61-64, 65-67, 68-7 and 73-80. The oldest flight has 19 golfers.
Other former champions in the field include Lily Yao (1999), Carol Commeford (1982 and '87) and five-time winner Yoshiko Koyama.
Players tee off at 7 a.m.
