Mid-Pac Open field full of contenders

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

After watching Regan Lee take Mid-Pacific Country Club apart birdie by birdie last year, Kevin Hayashi called him "the up-and-coming guy."

Lee immediately up and went, finishing 15th on the Gateway Tour money list in Arizona. He was home enough to also win the Rainbow and Waikoloa opens and prove Hayashi right.

Lee begins defense of his Mid-Pacific Open championship today in Lanikai.

He won with a score of 16-under-par 272 last year. That was a shot off David Ishii's tournament record, set in 1986.

The list of challengers at the Mid-Pac Open includes most of Hawai'i's prominent golfers, with one glaring exception. The tournament committee rejected 13-year-old Michelle Wie's request to play, directing her instead to next month's Jennie K. Invitational, a major women's event the club hosts.

Wie tied for ninth at the Kraft Nabisco Championship, an LPGA major, last month. She will be in the LPGA's Chick-Fil-A Charity Championship later this month and is not planning to play Jennie K.

Former Mid-Pac champions Larry Stubblefield (1972 and 2001), Beau Yokomoto (2000), Casey Nakama (1996), Brandan Kop (1995), Deron Doi (1994) and Lance Suzuki, who has won eight times, are playing this year. Stubblefield and Suzuki now qualify for the Senior (50-older) Flight.

Also in are Hayashi, Kevin Carll, Parker McLachlin, Brian Sasada, Joe Phengsavath, Del-Marc Fujita, Jonathan Ota, Randy Shibuya, Guy Yamamoto, Ron Castillo Jr., Shane Hoshino and Dean Prince.

The tournament is dedicated to Bob Togikawa, Mid-Pac's long-time course superintendent who retired recently.

The Open has a $25,000 purse, with the winning professional collecting $6,000.

Players tee off from 6:30 a.m. today and tomorrow and 7 a.m. Saturday and Sunday.

The field will be cut in half tomorrow.