Turtle Bay working on Champions' return
By Bill Kwon
Special to The Advertiser
There's no Turtle Bay Championship — an event at the North Shore resort won the past three years by Hale Irwin — listed on the 2004 Champions Tour schedule released by the Professional Golf Association this week.
Instead, the week of Sept. 30 to Oct. 5 lists a TBD (to be determined).
Not to worry, according to a Turtle Bay spokesman, who said negotiations are on-going.
"We're exploring a couple of date options with them," said Jeff Adams, director of public relations for the Champions Tour.
The negotiations include the length of a new contract, which expired this year, a purse increase and possibly finding a new date on the schedule instead of October.
According to Adams, one scenario calls for the Turtle Bay Championship to be held immediately following the MasterCard Championship at Hualalai, starting with the 2005 season.
Pro team loaded for Burns Cup
The pros are loading up to end a two-year losing streak to the amateurs in the Burns Challenge Cup Monday and Tuesday at the Mid-Pacific Country Club.
Leading the 12-man professional team in the two-day Ryder Cup format play will be Hapuna's Kevin Hayashi, the Aloha Section PGA player of the year.
Hayashi will be joined by Regan Lee, Beau Yokomoto, Kevin Carll, Tommy Kim, John Lynch, Lance Suzuki, Lance Taketa, Shane Hoshino, Casey Nakama, Brad Bowen and Phil Chun.
Brothers Norman-Ganin and Kellen-Floyd Asao are on the amateur team, along with Jonathan Ota, Mark Chun, Brandan Kop, Joe Phengsavath, Del-Marc Fujita, Kevin Shimomura, Brandon Abreu, Chase Chulakote, Paul Kimura and Hee Beom Kim.
Four players who were among the top 12 point-leaders had to pass on the event. Parker McLachlin turned pro, Matthew Ma is away in college at the University of Oregon, while high schoolers Travis Toyama and Kurt Nino will be playing the following week in the Polo Junior Golf Championships at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., and can't miss more classes.
The pros lead the series, 19-10 with one tie.
Named after Gov. John A. Burns, the annual challenge cup began in 1973.
Bill Kwon can be reached at bkwon@aloha.net.
