Kalakaua Course will close Dec. 31
By Bill Kwon
It's official. The historic Kalakaua Golf Course — located on base at Schofield Barracks and first opened for 18-hole play in 1922 — will close at the end of the year to make room for additional military housing.
Course employees were informed that the last day of operations will be Dec. 31. Full-time workers will be reassigned to the two other courses run by the U.S. Army — Leilehua and the nine-hole Walter Nagorski at Ft. Shafter — while the on-call people will be out of jobs.
Many of Hawai'i's greatest golfers — including Ted Makalena, Jimmy Ukauka, Lance Suzuki and Allan Yamamoto — have won the Army Open, once a major 72-hole championship tournament, at Kalakaua, which hosted the event with Leilehua.
According to Yamamoto, one's initial impression about Kalakaua is that it's an easy course. But it isn't, said Yamamoto, who felt his best 72 holes of golf came when he won the 1976 Army Open as an amateur with a tournament record 17-under-par 271.
It's a record that can be permanently etched in stone now that Kalakaua will be no more.
"A fun course but challenging," said Brandan Kop, who won the Army Invitational six times when it became an all-amateur event beginning in 1980.
Undoubtedly, with only Leilehua now available, the popular amateur tournament, which drew the largest number of entries, will have to reduce its field from next year.
Chad Saladin, who won the Prince Resort Hawai'i State Open last week, never won a tournament at Kalakaua. But he played it every chance he had in the four years he was stationed at Schofield Barracks.
"I lived in the barracks, so that's what I did," said Saladin, well aware of Kalakaua's unique golf history.
"That course was built before Waialae. It's got a lot of character. I was devastated when they destroyed 14 (a dog-leg right par-5 shortened to a par-4 two years ago).
"Now, they're going to trash the whole place. If there's anything I can do to stop the madness, I would," he said.
If Saladin, now a golf professional in Arizona, can appreciate Kalakaua, imagine what some of the old-timers must think of the news.
Veteran Masa Kaya, who used a little course knowledge to win the 1965 Army Open, remembers playing the original Kalakaua before World War II and as many holes as he could after work when he was stationed at Schofield with the Corps of Engineers during the war.
"At one time it was the best course in Hawai'i. They had these Italian prisoners of war maintaining the golf course. I don't know how they got them here but they did a good job," Kaya said.
After a number of renovations, Kalakaua isn't the same anymore, according to Kaya, who said that he played "some super golf" at the original layout.
In March when informed that Kalakaua was going to close, Kaya said, "It's getting shorter and shorter. If they're going to keep realigning it, they might as well close it."
The closure also brings an end to a piece of local golf lore.
The late Barrett Melvin, a GI once stationed at Schofield who later became Kalakaua's golf pro, recalled the years during the war when old P-40s landed on the long par-5 eighth hole (now No. 9) with golfers having to stop play and yield the right of way.
How many golf courses can lay that claim?
Lynch player of year
There was a tournament within a tournament for John Lynch and Brian Sasada at the Hawai'i State Open. What made it more gripping was that both played in the same group in the final round with a lot riding on it — player-of-the-year honors.
Saladin might have been the wire-to-wire winner but Lynch was almost as equally elated as the champion was despite finishing 15 strokes back.
All Lynch, a former teaching pro at the Ko'olau Golf Course and now playing on the Hooters Tour, had to do was finish ahead of Sasada, which he did by three strokes.
It enabled Lynch to win the honors as the Aloha Section PGA 2004 Player of the Year and an automatic exemption to January's Sony Open in Hawai'i.
"I was nervous all the way," said Lynch during his Sunday staredown with Sasada.
Lynch led by one stroke going into the final round and finished with a 77 to 79 for the Makena Resort assistant pro. That gave Lynch 980 points to 940 for Sasada. Kevin Hayashi, the 2003 player of the year, finished third in the final point standings.
The three will not play in the John Burns Challenge Cup against the amateurs Monday and Tuesday at the Mid-Pacific Country Club because of other commitments.
Governor's Cup teams
Professionals: Joe Phengsavath, Lance Taketa, Andrew Feldmann, Ron Castillo Jr., Casey Nakama, Matt Pakkala, Kevin Carll, Kitt Felte, Norman-Ganin Asao, Kirk Nelson, Jerry Mullen, Shane Hoshino.
Amateurs: Brandan Kop, Jonathan Ota, Jonathan Mathias, Matt Kodama, Ryan Perez, Nick Mason, Gary Kong, Mark Chun, Clayton Gomi, Shannon Tanoue, Del-Marc Fujita, Mike Kim.
Non-playing captains: Ron Castillo Sr. (pros) and Phil Anamizu (amateurs).
Bill Kwon can be reached at bkwon@aloha.net.
