Posted on: Thursday, April 15, 2004

Lee going for triple at Mid-Pacific Open

By Bill Kwon
Special to The Advertiser

Regan Lee can make history by becoming the first player to win the Mid-Pacific Open three straight years Sunday at the Mid-Pacific Country in Lanikai.

The 72-hole tournament begins today and ends Sunday with the biggest professional field (75 players) entered in the 42-year history of the event.

Lee, a wire-to-wire winner in 2002 with a 16-under-par 272, repeated as champion last year. He shot a final-round 77 under windy conditions for a 287 total to stave off Mark Takahama by one stroke.

Lee is well aware that history is not on his side.

Lance Suzuki, one of four previous champions in this year's 224-player field, posted back-to-back victories three times — 1977-78, 1983-84 and 1992-93 — and won the prestigious event eight times.

Winning three in a row, though, is something else, Suzuki said.

"It's hard to gauge how his (Regan's) game is going into the tournament, so I don't know if he can do it," Suzuki said.

"I'm feeling a lot more comfortable now. I'm finding my game again," said Lee, who missed the cut in the season's first major tournament, the Hawai'i Pearl Open, and tied for 16th in the Hilo Invitational.

Besides Suzuki, the other former winners playing this week are Larry Stubblefield (2001), Beau Yokomoto (2000), Casey Nakama (1996) and Brandan Kop (1995), the last amateur to win the event and only the second since 1976 champion Allan Yamamoto.

Kevin Hayashi, brothers Ron and Mike Castillo, Jerry Mullen and Brian Sasada are among the other pros entered.

Top amateurs besides Kop include Clayton Gomi, Paul Kimura, Todd Rego and Del-Marc Fujita, who played well in the recent State Amateur.