Pros win Governor's Cup
By Bill Kwon
Special to The Advertiser
Led by Kirk Nelson, Kevin Carll and Andrew Feldmann, the pros proved too much for the amateurs in winning the Gov. John A. Burns Challenge Cup yesterday at the windswept Mid-Pacific Country Club.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
Nelson and Carll — head golf professionals at Makena and Ko Olina, respectively — teamed to win their bestball and alternate-shot matches Monday and then added points to the pros' 14 1.2 to 9 1/2 victory in yesterday's singles competition.
Andrew Feldmann, Oahu Country Club's head pro, went 3-0 to lead the professionals to a win over the amateurs.
Feldmann, Oahu Country Club's head professional, also went 3-0 in the two-day event.
Nelson defeated Manoa Cup champion Ryan Perez, 5 and 4, while Carll turned back Mike Kim, 2 and 1. Feldmann beat OCC member Gary Kong, 4 and 3.
"It was a devious pairing, matching two OCC guys," Kong said.
Brandan Kop, another OCC member, had the misfortune of running into the hottest golfer of the day — Joe Phengsavath, who posted five birdies with no bogeys in 6-and-5 romp.
"Joe played well. If he plays like that, he'll do well on the Asian Tour," said Kop, who has qualified to play in every Governor's Cup since 1980, missing only one tournament.
Phengsavath, who will be going to the Asian Tour's qualifying school in January, led 5 up at the turn and birdied 10 to go 6 up before closing the match with five holes to go.
Casey Nakama beat Mark Chun, 3 and 2, while Jerry Mullen got by Nick Mason, 3 and 1, for the professional team, which won for the second straight year.
Del-Marc Fujita turned in the day's biggest comeback to give the amateurs one of their five victories. He was down four to Lance Taketa at the turn, then pulled even by winning the next four holes.
Fujita took the lead at 15 when Taketa putted off the green because of the tricky front-left pin placement. The match was squared at 17 when Fujita drove it out of bounds, but he two-putted from 40 feet for a par at 18, winning 1 up when Taketa couldn't go up and down.
Also winning for the amateurs were Matt Kodama, the Hawai'i State Amateur champion; Jonathan Mathias, Clayton Gomi and Jonathan Ota.
Kodama beat Norman-Ganin Asao, 3 and 2; Mathias birdied the ninth hole to pull even and then held off Matt Pakkala of the Kukio Golf & Beach Club, 2 and 1; Gomi won by the same score over Hualalai's Kitt Felte; and Ota beat Kiahuna's Ron Castillo Jr., 4 and 3.
Amateur Shannon Tanoue staged a late rally against Shane Hoshino for the only halved match of the day.
The pros now lead the Governor's Cup, which began in 1973, 21-10 with one tie.
