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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Pros win Burns Cup

By Bill Kwon
Special to The Advertiser

Body English couldn't help pro golfer Kirk Nelson, who reacts after his putt on No. 17 barely misses the cup.

BRUCE ASATO | The Honolulu Advertiser

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Amateur Chan Kim, left, and pro Kirk Nelson study their putting lines on the 16th green during the Gov. John A. Burns Challenge Cup at the Mid-Pacific Country Club.

BRUCE ASATO | The Honolulu Advertiser

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Pro Kirk Nelson putts on the 17th.

BRUCE ASATO | The Honolulu Advertiser

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Amateur Chan Kim reacts after missing his putt at the 15th.

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LANIKAI — Brandan Kop made the shot of the day and Tadd Fujikawa still remained unbeaten, but the professionals took eight of the 12 singles matches to turn back the amateur team and win the 34th Gov. John A. Burns Challenge Cup yesterday at the Mid-Pacific Country Club.

Trailing, 7-5, after Monday's team competition, the pros rallied to claim the Governor's Cup for the fourth straight year with a 13-11 victory. The pros now lead the series, 23 to 10, with one tie in 1983.

Makena's Kirk Nelson, the only member of his team to win all three of his matches, sealed the deal for the pros by beating state high school boys' champion Chan Kim, 2 and 1, in the final pairing of the day.

Playing in his first Governor's Cup match, Kim led 1-up at the turn after losing the opening two holes. But Nelson pulled even with a birdie at the par-5 12th and regained the lead with a par-3 at 14.

A three-putt from 25 feet put Kim 2-down. He got a two-putt birdie at the par-5 16th to cut it to one, but the match ended at 17 when Kim drove in the left water hazard and bogeyed.

Beau Yokomoto began the pros' comeback with a 4-and-3 victory over Shannon Tanoue. Norman-Ganin Asao, Phil Chun, Andrew Feldmann, Mark Morrison, Ivan Cunningham and Regan Lee, who polished off Alvin Okada, 7 and 6, in the runaway match of the day, kept adding to the pros' point total.

Jonathan Ota finally put the amateurs on the scoreboard with a 1-up victory over John Lynch, who thought their match would be all square when Ota hit his drive into the water hazard at the par-4 17th hole. But the reigning Manoa Cup champion managed to save par and halve the hole when he chipped in from 40 feet.

Even Ota admitted that his par save was nothing compared to Kop's at the 412-yard 18th hole.

Kop was 1-up on Lance Taketa when he hit his second shot from 140 yards over the green and out of bounds. Not sure he went OB, Kop hit a provisional, using one less club (a 9-iron), and then heard a roar from those at greenside, including Ota, as the ball found the hole.

"I hope I went out of bounds," Kop told Taketa, knowing that he was assured of a par if he did.

"It's the first time I ever heard of somebody wishing he went out of bounds," said Taketa, who missed a long birdie try after thinking par would be good enough to win the hole.

"If I didn't go OB, I don't think I would have made par," said Kop, who played in every Governor's Cup except once since 1980.

Sean Maekawa, a Honoka'a High School senior, beat Mid-Pac assistant pro Joe Phengsavath, 1 up, when the latter went OB on the 17th hole, and Fujikawa, a sophomore at Moanalua High School, took down Matt Pakkala, 4 and 3, for the other two victories by the amateurs.

Fujikawa, the youngest player in U.S. Open history, went 3-0 for the second straight year. He's also the youngest to compete in the Governor's Cup, making his first appearance at age 14 last year.

"What I thought was most impressive about him was how well he controlled his pace of play in everything. In his putting, in his emotions. I see that as a sign of maturity," said Pakkala, a teaching pro at Kukio Golf & Beach Club.

The 12 amateurs on the Governor's Cup team now will play for an exempt spot in the Sony Open in Hawai'i in an 18-hole qualifying at the Waialae Country Club on Dec. 18.

"It'll be exciting," said Kim, who figures to join Fujikawa as the players to beat for the lone amateur spot in the PGA Tour's first full-field event of 2007.