David Ishii played too well not to earn a berth in the U.S. Senior Open in yesterday's sectional qualifier at Waialae Country Club. Same for Chuck Davis but, as fate and the golf gods would have it, only one spot was available.

Ishii snagged that with a 5-footer for par — after a brilliant bunker shot — on the second playoff hole. Davis, whose birdie putt to win on the first playoff hole fell into the cup and popped back out, is first alternate. Both blew through breezy Waialae in 2-under-par 70 yesterday.

Dan Nishimoto is second alternate after shooting a 75. Phil Anamizu was low amateur at 77.

Only 13 of the 35 golfers — 30 from Hawai'i, four from Japan and one from California — broke 80 on a day when the wind was a wicked 25 mph, or gusting to 30 mph. The qualifier was played from the blue (back) tees at 7,125 yards and the pins were plotted straight off the placement sheet from the final round of the Sony Open in Hawai'i.

Ishii and Davis, both born on Kaua'i and members of the Hawai'i Golf Hall of Fame, separated themselves from the rest of the 50- and 60-somethings with rounds so solid they would have been in contention at the Sony.

Davis, 58, birdied three in a row around the turn. He would have a place at Prairie Dunes Country Club, in Hutchinson, Kan., July 6 to 9, but for a double bogey on the 14th, the 2-hour wait between the time his second group finished and the playoff started, and a cruel gust of wind on the first playoff hole.

This was his fifth runner-up finish in the senior sectional. After yesterday's latest heartbreak, it is beginning to look like a conspiracy to keep him from the seniors' most coveted championship, and some time with close senior friends Scott Simpson and Dave Eichelberger. The putt that popped out was particularly painful.

"I played the first hole absolutely perfect, left it 6 feet from the pin and hit a perfect putt," Davis said. "A gust of wind came up and just spit it out. Then I hit a bad shot on the second hole and David hit a great bunker shot and great putt so ..."

"I thought he had won on the first playoff hole," admitted Ishii. "He hit the driver perfect, hit the second shot perfect. I thought, 'Oh wow.' And there was nothing wrong with that putt. The wind blowing from that side that way to the hole ... but it spun out."

The last time Ishii and Davis played together, Davis sank a long putt on the final hole to win the 1992 JAL Open. He also won the 1987 Kaua'i Open, 1989 Hawai'i State Open and the 1983 and '84 National Lefthanders Championship. His 10-stroke dominance in '84 still stands as the lowest 72-hole score and margin of victory.

Ishii, 50, is in his first full year of senior eligibility after a remarkable career here and on the Japan PGA tour. He is trying hard to make the most of it.

Ishii finished top 30 on a sponsor's exemption at the Turtle Bay Championship, earning a place in the Senior PGA Championship — the seniors' first major of the year. After yesterday he is in the second, and his 1990 Hawaiian Open win earned him a place in this summer's Senior British Open.

Ishii scrambled early yesterday, then birdied Nos. 9, 10 and 12. His only bogey came at 11. "I was struggling the first few holes, making putts for pars," Ishii said. "Then when I hit the green I had chances for birdie, like 8 and 10 feet, and I couldn't hit putts right. The greens I'd miss, I'd pitch 'em up like 4 or 5 feet and hit the putt right."

Those par putts salvaged his day, while the "makeable" birdie putts — he missed from between 10 and 12 feet on the final three holes — nearly did him in.

"I didn't know what the score was," Ishii admitted. "I thought 2-under, maybe ... but I was kind of half-hearted on some of those putts. I didn't want to make a Phil Mickelson (bad hole). I should have tried harder to get those in. Qualifying you can never tell."

Tell that to Davis, who knows every blade of grass at Waialae and still could not catch a break. He started caddieing at the club in 1964, worked on its maintenance crews from 1972 to '84, then was an assistant pro for 10 years. Now he is working on a golf project for Tihati Productions — and hoping that this year he can slip in as a U.S. Senior Open alternate, even if his winning putt slipped out.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.