AROUND THE GREENS
Hawai'i golfers take game to national level in events

By Bill Kwon

Paul Kimura will be making his second appearance in the USGA State Team Championships. Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser

However, Wie won't be the only golfer from here competing nationally next week. Six other golfers also will be representing Hawai'i in the USGA State Team Championships in Massachusetts.

Norman-Ganin Asao, Travis Toyama and Paul Kimura will carry Hawai'i's colors in the men's championship at the Charles River Country Club in Newton Centre.

Former University of Hawai'i golfers Bobbi Kokx and Desiree Ting, and Kamehameha junior Mari Chun, will be in the women's championship at the Wellesley Country Club.

First held in 1995, the biennial USGA competition is a big deal in amateur golf as all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are sending teams. The team champion is determined by the best two of three scores each day over 54 holes of stroke-play competition.

"USGA events are really first-class events. I would advise those who can go, should do so," said Kimura, who's making his second straight appearance in the event.

Kimura had no problems getting off work to play in the team championships. As boss of City Fender, who can argue with him when he takes time off to play golf?

Kimura joined Joe Phengsavath and Del-Marc Fujita on the Hawai'i team two years ago when the men's championship was held at the Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn.

He's going as an alternate again, based on the latest Governor's Cup point standings through the Barbers Point Invitational. The USGA team event is limited to amateurs, but not college golfers, who aren't eligible under NCAA regulations.

Asao leads the point standings, but the next two — Jonathan Ota and Brandan Kop — passed because of business commitments. Fifth-ranked Phengsavath also couldn't make it, and collegians Kellen-Floyd Asao, Norman's brother and reigning Manoa Cup champion, Matthew Ma and State Amateur Champion Chase Chulakote are also high on the list, but can't go. That opened up a spot for Toyama, also an alternate.

"It should be fun," said Toyama, a University High senior who broke Tiger Woods' record with a 10-stroke victory in the 35th Independent Insurance Agent Junior Classic in New Jersey last month.

"I'm looking forward to it," added Asao, a 2002 University of Hawai'i graduate.

"I'm going to depend on the two young horses to carry me," said Kimura, who will be 51 in December. Kimura shot a 1-under-par 71 last week to qualify for the USGA Mid-Amateur Championship next month in Wilmington, Del.

Kimura, Phengsavath and Fujita all enjoyed playing Hazeltine in 2001 even though it came right after Sept. 11.

"We weren't sure they were going to hold the tournament," said Kimura. But when the USGA decided it was a go, Kimura, Phengsavath and Fujita didn't worry about any further terrorist threats. Playing Hazeltine, site of the PGA Championship the following year, came foremost in their minds.

"There aren't too many times to have this opportunity to play Hazeltine. And it's one of the best tournaments to go up to," Pheng-savath said.

"The course is awesome," said Fujita, who had to withdraw after the first round because of a back injury. He shot an opening 85 but still drew a lot of attention by being the only golfer playing in shorts on a cold, blustery day with temperatures in the low 50s.

"He was crazy," said Phengsavath, who wound up the low man on the Hawai'i team, which finished tied for 48th.

"He said he was a polar bear," added Kimura, who had made the team as an alternate because Ryan Koshi, the 2001 Manoa Cup champion, decided not to go.

"I guess I kind of regret it now," said Koshi, 25, a porter at the Maui Airport. But it wasn't because he was afraid of flying, Koshi said. "I work at the airport. I didn't know if I had a job."

Hazeltine turned out to be a home-course advantage as Minnesota became the first state to win both the men's and women's titles in the same year.

Unlike the Governor's Cup point standings, the Hawai'i women's team came after a qualifying round at the Leilehua Golf Course in July with Kokx, the reigning Hawai'i State Women's Golf Association match-play champion, earning medalist honors.

Ting qualified on Tuesday to represent Hawai'i in the USGA Women's Mid-Amateur Championship next month at Hilton Head Island, S.C.

Chun, 16, who won the Interscholastic League of Honolulu girls' title as a ninth-grader two years ago, had gained the HSWGA match-play finals and the round of 64 in the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship this summer.

Bill Kwon can be reached at bkwon@aloha.net