18-year-old pro accepts Challenge
By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
Ty Tryon, a senior at Crenshaw School in Orlando, Fla., is the sixth and final pro to commit to play in the First Hawaiian Bank Pro-Junior Golf Challenge Tuesday.
The exhibition, featuring six of Hawai'i's best junior golfers paired with Sony Open in Hawai'i pros, will start at 2:30 p.m. at Waialae Country Club.
The Sony Open begins next Thursday. The first full-field tournament of 2003 features 14 of the world's top 20 golfers, including Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia, Jim Furyk, Retief Goosen and K.J. Choi.
Tryon, 18, is three years older than Kurt Nino — who, along with Stephanie Kono — were announced to complete the junior sixsome. Kono and Nino join Michelle Wie and Chris Souza, winners of the 2002 Hawai'i State Junior Golf Association 15-18 age division, and Travis Toyama and Lehua Wise, the HSJGA Players of the Year.
The other pros are Paul Azinger, Rich Beem, defending Sony champion Jerry Kelly, Tom Lehman and Vijay Singh. All are at least 15 years older than Tryon, who became the youngest to qualify for the tour at the 2001 Qualifying Tournament.
Prior to that, Tryon was the youngest to make a PGA cut in 44 years when he became a Monday qualifier for the Honda Classic. He officially became a tour member last June, after his 18th birthday.
Tryon played in four tournaments earlier in the year on exemptions, then was diagnosed with mononucleosis and tonsillitis and did not play for six months. He played two tournaments in the fall, making his only cut at the Tampa Bay Classic.
Tryon is playing on a medical exemption this year and is eligible for 20 events. He got into the Sony Open on a sponsor's exemption.
Kono won the 2001 Hawai'i State Women's Golf Association Match Play Championship at the age of 11. The Punahou seventh-grader was second in last year's State Stroke Play Championship, third in the Girls' American Cup and fourth at the Junior World Championship.
Nino, a Damien sophomore, reached the semifinals of last year's Manoa Cup — the state amateur match play championship. He won his age division twice at the HSJGA Tournament of Champions.
The $25,000 Challenge offers $13,000 to the pros — $5,000 to the winner of the six-hole tournament. The HSJGA receives a $12,000 donation from First Hawaiian Bank. Admission is free. Brad Faxon and Wai'anae's Earl Medeiros won the inaugural Challenge last year.
