Memorable moments filled Clyde Rego's career

By Bill Kwon
Special to The Advertiser

You can count on one hand, the number of Hawai'i golfers who made it out of national qualifying school to play on the PGA Tour. A rare fivesome indeed. OK, there is Larry Stubblefield, Lance Suzuki, Steve Veriato, Dean Wilson and ... ?

Clyde Rego had success as an amateur and professional, including a victory in the Manoa Cup. Rego family photo

Rego, whose life was tragically cut short Aug. 10 after a massive heart attack following complications from a brain aneurysm that left him in a coma for a month, quietly but notably reached out to a higher level.

"He was one of our rare ones," said Bob Tom, founder of the Hawai'i Junior Golf Association, who watched hundreds of youngsters develop over the years into fine golfers. But few made it as far as Rego, who played two years (1982 and 1983) on the PGA Tour.

After his final local victory in the 1986 Maui Open, Rego spent most of his time helping his brother, Art Rego Jr., in golf operations first at Maui's Waiehu Municipal Course and now at 'Ewa Villages.

"He was starting to play again," said his older brother. "He was thinking of trying to qualify for the (PGA) senior tour when he turned 50."

On Wednesday, two days after what would have been his 47th birthday, Rego will be buried at Mililani Mortuary Park.

ALL IN THE FAMILY

He was the youngest of the four children of Arthur and Beatrice Rego, who saw all of them become golf professionals.

Art Jr., is a former head golf professional at Waiehu and Mililani, and now operates the golf concessions at the Ala Wai and 'Ewa Villages.

"We used to play team matches when we were growing up — my sister and I against Clyde and Darrell. You could hear us yelling at each other on the golf course," Rego recalled. It was at the Hawai'i Country Club, once called Kunia.

That's where Clyde Rego first picked up the game at the age of 7.

Soon he joined the Hawai'i State Junior Golf Association and went to several Junior World Championships in San Diego. A graduate of Leilehua High School, Rego won All-O'ahu Interscholastic Association honors in his junior and senior years, winning the OIA title in 1975.

While at Leilehua, Rego played in two U.S. Junior Amateur Championships, qualifying for the match-play competition both times, and was named to two U.S. Boys Junior America's Cup teams. In 1977, he qualified for the U.S. Men's Amateur in Minnesota, but lost his first-round match.

He and Darrell teamed to win Brown Four-Ball titles in 1977 and 1978 in decisive fashion, winning by 8 and 7, and 7 and 6 scores, respectively.

BREAKTHROUGH

Rego's first major individual title was in the 1977 when he became the first amateur to win the JAL Rainbow Open. He did it by going up and down for a dramatic birdie from the greenside bunker on the 72nd hole (the par-5 tournament 18th) to beat David Ishii, then a member of the NCAA champion University of Houston golf team.

Rego and Ishii were to hook up again the following year in yet another unforgettable duel in the Manoa Cup.

Now one of the all-time career money leaders on the Japan tour, Ishii was defending his Manoa Cup title when he met Rego in the 36-hole final.

They were even going into the 34th hole (the par-3 16th) when Rego's errant tee shot was headed for the water hazard. But the ball hit a spectator on the shoulder and landed on the green four feet from the pin.

Rego birdied the hole to go 1-up and also won the 17th to close the match, 2 and 1.

The spectator Rego hit?

Johnny Walker, then president of the host Oahu Country Club, who presented Rego with the coveted Manoa Cup trophy at the awards ceremony. It only seemed fitting.

THE RIGHT MOVE

Rego transferred from the University of Hawai'i after his freshman year to North Texas State, and continued to be one of the leading amateur golfers in Hawai'i.

"He was a person with a lot of talent but first didn't do much with it. It's good that he went away. It made him aware of what he had to do to get better," said Bob Takano, his UH coach.

Rego took low-amateur honors when PGA touring pro Scott Simpson won the 1979 Hawai'i State Open, and also in the inaugural 1979 Pearl Open, the 1975 Barbers Point Open and the 1977 Army Open.

In 1980, when the Army Invitational became an all-amateur event for the first time, Rego went into the final round leading by 16 strokes, eventually coasting to win by a dozen shots.

Called "The Bull" by his family because he was the biggest at 6 feet, 230 pounds, Rego turned professional in 1981. He missed the spring PGA Q-School but qualified in the fall (it was held twice annually then) to play on the tour in 1982.

Rego again missed the cut in the spring qualifying, this time by only two strokes over six rounds of play. But he qualified again in the fall for the 1983 season in which his best paychecks were $7,250 in the Tallahassee Open and $6,810 in the Las Vegas Invitational.

It was in 1983 that Rego qualified to play in the U.S. Open at Oakmont, but he missed the cut. He came back later that year to win the Hawai'i State Open.

Clyde Rego surely left an indelible mark in local golf, one to be definitely remembered.

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