Toyama advances in Manoa Cup

Advertiser Staff and News Services

Bradley Shigezawa, who became the youngest qualifier in the Manoa Cup at 11, lost in the opening round of match play yesterday. Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser

Shigezawa lost in the opening round to Ryan Perez, 1-up. Toyama, 16, defeated Curtis Kono, 2 and 1, in the first round, then ousted David K. Hamada, 5 and 4, in the second. Kono is the OCC Greens Superintendent and 1987 Manoa Cup champion.

Brandan Kop, a four-time Manoa Cup champion, lost in the second round to Chong Delisi, 1-up, leaving Toyama as the only former champion remaining.

State high school champion Troy Higashiyama won both his matches to move into today's third round against Kurt Nino, who reached the semifinals last year.

Tom Goodbody, the oldest player at 60, lost his second-round match to 16-year-old Alvin Okada despite acing the 11th hole. It was Goodbody's 12th hole-in-one.

The quarterfinals are tomorrow, followed by 36-hole semifinals Friday and the 36-hole final Saturday. Play begins at 7 each morning.

• "Babe Magnet" moves on: Castle High graduate Dean Wilson was nearly lost in the backdraft of Stewart Cink's phenomenal qualifying rounds Monday at the U.S. Open Sectional in Columbus, Ohio.

Wilson, a PGA Tour rookie who now lives in Las Vegas, will play in his second Open next week after shooting 67-69-136 at The Lakes Golf and Country Club and Double Eagle. He tied for sixth and was one of 20 qualifiers at the site, which had a field of 101. Cink set scoring records on both courses in leading the qualifying at 21-under-par 123.

Wilson is coming off the rush caused when he played with Annika Sorenstam in The Colonial nearly two weeks ago. His grace and good humor under pressure earned him the "Babe Magnet" label in Brian Murphy's Page 2 column at ESPN.com.

Murphy went on to say Wilson "had kind of a Dean Cain Thing going" as he "wormed his way into the hearts of women everywhere with his strong-but-sensitive work."

"On the 10th tee Thursday morning, where the threesome started their historic round, Dean-o was chatting Annika up, big-time," Murphy wrote. "Keeping her loose, making her laugh, looking cute. He kept it up all day, with the shy smile and all that. The babes swooned."

Murphy wrote that Wilson had a "cult following" by Friday, including one woman with an "Aloha, Dean: I LOVE YOU" sign.

Scott Simpson, another former Hawai'i resident and the 1987 U.S. Open champion, will not play next week at Olympia Fields Country Club in Illinois. Simpson shot 75-71-146 at North Shore CC in Glenview, Ill., Monday, which was not good enough to qualify.

• Woods to play in Buick Classic: Tiger Woods added the Buick Classic to his schedule yesterday, committing to play in the Westchester (N.Y.) tournament following the U.S. Open next week at Olympia Fields.

The Buick endorser last appeared in the event in 2001, when it also was played the week after the U.S. Open.

Woods, expected to attract an additional 40,000 to 50,000 fans to the four-day tournament, has struggled in three starts on Westchester's hilly, tree-lined West Course. He missed the cut as an 18-year-old amateur in 1994, tied for 43rd in 1997, and tied for 16th in 2001 — 12 strokes behind winner Sergio Garcia.