Posted on: Thursday, May 19, 2005
McLachlin earns $37,500 in match play
| • | Around the Greens: Ting chooses prize over amateur status |
| • | Medalist Watabu helps Kaua'i retain state title |
| • | Holes in One |
Advertiser Staff
Being bashed in the first round of Big Stakes Match Play still paid off for former Hawai'i state high school champion Parker McLachlin.
McLachlin and his partner, Byron Schlagenhauf of California, won six straight matches to capture the consolation championship of the $6.4 million tournament and win $175,000. After paying back their sponsors, McLachlin and Schlagenhauf each got $37,500. McLachlin won three mini-tour events last year and his best paycheck was $24,000.
Tournament format was four-ball match play. Big Stakes brought 64 teams to CasaBlanca Golf Club in Mesquite, 80 miles north of Las Vegas. The scratch event was open to any golfer not playing on a professional tour.
Each team's entry fee was $100,000 with the winning team collecting $3 million. The tournament was billed "Where 'Survivor' meets 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire?' "
McLachlin will play in the Kuma Contracting Corp. Kona Open this weekend at Kona Country Club's Ocean Course. Mid-Pacific Open champion John Lynch will defend his title.
All golfers start at noon Saturday. In Sunday's final round, the Open Flight begins at 6:45 a.m. on the Ocean Course while the A flight starts at 7 a.m. on the Mountain Course.
Lynch, a teaching pro at Kuki'o Golf & Beach Club on the Big Island, won the $15,000 tournament with a score of 1-under-par 143 last year. That was one better than Matt Pakkala, Regan Lee and Jarett Hamamoto, who won low amateur honors.
Lee and Hamamoto also will return this year, along with Regan's brother Reynold, Kevin Hayashi, Chris Keiter, Tommy Kim, Dean Prince, Randy Shibuya and Beau Yokomoto. There are 88 players in the open flight.
Kyono lifts Pepperdine
Senior Rachel Kyono, a 2002 Kaua'i High graduate, shot a 3-over-par 73 yesterday to help Pepperdine tie Auburn for the second-round lead of the NCAA Division I Women's Championships at Sunriver, Ore.
Playing in rain, wind and temperatures in the 40s, Pepperdine shot 11-over 295 for a 586 total at the Sunriver Resort's Meadows course.
Pepperdine's Eileen Vargas is tied for the lead with 70—144.
Mason boosts UH-Hilo
Hawai'i-Hilo's Nick Mason shot a 2-under-par 69 yesterday and was tied for eighth in the weather-plagued NCAA Division II Championships at the Club at Savannah Harbor course in Savannah, Ga.
Mason stood at 1-over 143 when play was suspended due to darkness. Only eight teams in the 20-team field completed the second round, which was delayed by rain for 2ý hours after the first round on Tuesday was halted because of lightning.
Hilo was tied for 11th at 22-over. The other Vulcan golfers are: Garrett Okamura (73—148, tie for 37th), Kevin Shimomura (74—149, tie for 42nd), Colin Gilliam (75—150, tie for 51st) and Troy Higashiyama (84—164, tie for 104th).
Top seed falls in 4-Ball
Two of the top-three seeded teams lost in last weekend's opening round of the 54th Francis Hyde I'i Brown Four-Ball Match Play Championship. Quarterfinals and semifinals are Saturday at Ala Wai, with the 36-hole final scheduled for 7:20 a.m. Sunday.
Lin Akiyama and Norman Inouye, seeded last (16th) in the Championship flight, upset top-seeded Mark Chun and Bill Moran Sunday, 1-up. The third-seeded team of David Ishikawa and Steve Yogi also fell, 2 and 1, to 14th-seeded Craig Uyehara and Gregg Omori.
Second-seeded Dean Kaya and Harry Yamashiro are the highest-seeded team remaining. They won 1-up over Tomi Yamada and David Komori and will face 2004 Manoa Cup champion Ryan Perez and Reyn Tanaka Saturday.
Tadd Fujikawa, the 14-year-old who won the Hickam Invitational earlier this month, will also play in the quarters, with partner Alex Chu. They are seeded fourth.
