honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, October 22, 2006

Fujikawa captures OCC Invitational

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

Fujikawa

spacer spacer

In his quest to blow the field away, Moanalua sophomore Tadd Fujikawa blew a relatively "old" trend out of the water yesterday at the 43rd annual Oahu Country Club Men's Invitational.

The average age of the past three OCC winners was 47. Fujikawa, too young to drive a golf cart and still comfortable calling everyone at the country club "mister," is 15.

The only time he looked his age yesterday was on the final hole. Needing a two-foot uphill par putt to finish off a two-stroke victory over Kevin Shimomura, Fujikawa yanked it wide. He won by one, throwing a 3-under-par 68 at the field to finish at 4-under 209.

"I pulled it. I don't know what happened. I took my putter back and my mind just went blank," Fujikawa said of the wayward putt. "I was like, 'What was I supposed to do again?' and I just went ... yank. It was only a few inches or it would have been scary."

Fujikawa went into the final round yesterday afternoon five shots back of Shimomura, a Lahainaluna graduate who played for the University of Hawai'i-Hilo and will get his degree in recreation management and business in December.

A year ago, Shimomura fired a final-round 69 to shoot into the top five here. After opening with 69-67, the best he could muster yesterday was 74 and a belated wish — after Fujikawa's shocking miss — that his 10-foot par putt on the last hole dropped.

"You've got to learn a lot when you're in these situations," Shimomura said. "I haven't been in this situation as much as Tadd. Everyone probably knew he had a real good chance today if he played good. He played really good today. It's tough to beat the little kid."

Alvin Okada Jr. moved into third with a 71-213, easing ahead of Hickam Amateur champion Craig Uyehara (75-214). State high school runner-up Sean Maekawa, from the Big Island, was sixth at 71-218 and Manoa Cup champion Jonathan Ota soared into sixth at 69-219.

Ota won this event two years ago, at age 43. The year before, Mervin Matsumoto, 58, took the title. Blaine Kimura won last year at 39. All that course knowledge and sophistication went out the window this week as Fujikawa continued riding a wave that probably started in June when he became the youngest ever to qualify for the U.S. Open.

Last weekend he won the Turtle Bay Amateur with a tournament-record, 10-under score. He now has three open amateur championships, the first coming at Hickam last year. The "Little Guy," as coach Kevin Ralbovsky calls him, already strikes fear.

Fujikawa caught Shimomura when, after missing a three-footer for birdie on his eighth hole, he hit within a foot for birdie on the next (No. 18 with the players starting on the back), then opened his second nine with a 15-foot birdie putt on No. 1 and a two-putt birdie on the next.

Fujikawa seized the lead for good with par on his 16th hole (No. 7).

After both parred the next hole, Shimomura missed the green on the par-3 final hole, pitched to 10 feet and missed. Fujikawa drove the green, nudged his birdie putt safely below the hole, then shocked everyone by missing a putt he did not need.

His 210 total was 10 better than Kimura's winning score of a year ago, shot in wind, rain and mud. But Fujikawa is chasing a more personal history. This event has been dominated by players in the Hawai'i Golf Hall of Fame — Allan Yamamoto, Hung Soo Ahn, Ken Miyaoka, Owen Douglas Jr., Wendell Kop and Larry Stubblefield.

"It is very prestigious for me to win this," Fujikawa said shyly.

His golf gameplan is hardly as humble.

"Honestly, I want to not only win, I want to blow them away," Fujikawa said. "But Kevin played well, he was playing pretty steady so I said if I'm going to win this I'm going to have to make more birdies. I can't be backing down."

Women's Mid-Amateur: Kapalua's Lori Planos shot a 7-over 79 yesterday in the first round of stroke-play qualifying for the U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur Championship at West Point, Miss. Dawn Woodard, of Franklin, Texas, leads with a 72.

Women's World Amateur Team Championships: Hilo's Kimberly Kim shot a final-round 1-under-par 71 yesterday to finish in a tie for 16th and lead the United States to a ninth-place finish in South Africa. Kim, who shot a 66 Friday, finished at even-par 288 — eight strokes behind medallist Caroline Westrup of Sweden. The U.S. shot 2-under 574. South Africa and Sweden tied for first at 10-under 566.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.