AROUND THE GREENS
Amateurs giving thanks for chance to play Sony

By Bill Kwon

"There aren't too many places in the nation where amateurs get a chance to play in a PGA tournament," Jonathan Ota says. Advertiser library photo • March 16, 2003

It's Thanksgiving, and believe me, you're not going to find golfers more thankful on this day than the 12 amateurs who played in the Burns Challenge Cup.

The reason?

Though they lost to their professional counterparts at the Mid-Pacific Country Club, by playing on the 12-man amateur team in the two-day Governor's Cup, they earned the opportunity to try and qualify for the 2004 Sony Open at the Waialae Country Club.

This year's thankful 12:

Brothers Norman-Ganin and Kellen-Floyd Asao, Jonathan Ota, Joe Phengsavath, Chase Chulakote, Brandon Abreu, Kevin Shimomura, Del-Marc Fujita, Paul Kimura, Mark Chun, Brandan Kop and Hee Beom Kim.

One of them will qualify for an amateur exemption in the PGA Tour event by shooting the day's best round on Dec. 8 at Waialae.

Beat the other 11 guys and you're in.

"As amateurs, we are so fortunate," said Ota, a veteran golfer from Kaua'i, who won the amateur qualifying to play in the 2002 Sony Open.

"There aren't too many places in the nation where amateurs get a chance to play in a PGA tournament. The younger players should appreciate what a privilege it is. To play in the Governor's Cup for one, and, two, to get a chance to play in a PGA tournament."

"All the juniors know about that spot," added Kop, who played in the Sony Open twice via the amateur qualifying route.

For that reason, Kop said, "Every amateur or junior golfer would want to make the Governor's Cup team. Their goal is to play in the Sony Open. That (the exempt spot) is the best thing for amateur golf in Hawai'i."

The good thing, Kop added, is that the exemption is in addition to the one that Sony officials extended to 14-year-old Michelle Wie, who will be the second amateur in the 144-player field.

There was some talk about that among the Sony committee members before deciding to give Wie an exemption earlier this month. To Sony's credit, it's like a second amateur exemption, which is almost unheard of for a PGA event.

"I think there would have been some animosity if they took away the Governor's Cup exemption to give it to her," Kop said. "She could have qualified this way if she played in enough events to make the team. She did well in the (two) tournaments she played."

Sony will face increasing pressure from the PGA Tour in this regard in the years to come, especially now that the prize money has skyrocketed.

When Sony took over the sponsorship in 1999, the purse was $2.6 million with the '99 winner, Jeff Sluman, getting $486,000. At the start of a new four-year contract, 2003 champion Ernie Els pocketed $810,000 of the $4.5 million purse.

In its final year of the current contract, the 2006 Sony Open will be for a $5.5 million purse with the winner getting $990,000.

So you can bet that there will be a rising clamor among the pros to get rid of the amateurs.

The Governor's Cup did lose its amateur exemption in 1996 when United Airlines, then the sponsor of the Hawaiian Open, reluctantly took it away to make room for another professional.

Through the efforts of Judge James Burns and others, it was restored the following year. Inaugurated in 1973, the Governor's Cup is named in honor of James Burns' father, John A. Burns, former governor of Hawai'i.

"Because of Judge Burns, Tony Guerrero and Al Souza, amateurs continue to have the privilege," Ota said.

"Every year, it's going to be harder. But they always fight for the amateurs, golfers who don't play for money but for the love of the sport. We're very lucky. Not every state has this kind of opportunity."

"They're the ones who fight to keep it," Burns said about Guerrero and Souza, who are on the Friends of Hawai'i Charities committee that uses its one exemption for the Governor's Cup amateur qualifier.

Hapuna's Kevin Hayashi, who earned an exemption in the Sony Open as the Aloha Section PGA's player of the year, hopes that the amateurs will continue to get an exemption.

"The way these young amateurs are playing and hitting the ball, the future is bright in Hawai'i," said Hayashi as he watched the Asao brothers, particularly Kellen-Floyd, a junior on the University of Hawai'i golf team, smack drives past him and playing partner Beau Yokomoto in their Governor's Cup matches on Tuesday.

"Beau's one of our longest hitters and Kellen is passing him or (keeping) even. And he's using a steel shaft," Hayashi said.

Thanksgiving tidbit: Hardly anyone golfs on Thanksgiving Day. "I never did because I'm a (Dallas) Cowboys fan and they're always on TV," said Fujita. But Hayashi, Lance Suzuki, Casey Nakama and Ron Castillo Sr., non-playing captain of the professional team, all remember when the Hawai'i State Open (then known as the Ted Makalena Hawai'i State Open) was played on Thanksgiving Day and through the weekend at the Ala Wai Golf Course.

"I remember when we played the day after the hurricane (Iwa) in 1982," Hayashi said.

Bill Kwon can be reached at bkwon@aloha.net.