Updated at 10:58 p.m., Sunday, February 11, 2007
Fujikawa edges Meyer for Hawaii Pearl Open crown
By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
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And what a shot it was. Fujikawa put himself in position to win with a front-nine charge, did everything but put it away on the back nine, then clinched it on his final shot to the final hole, which he stuck a foot from the pin for a birdie putt as about 200 watched in awe at Pearl Country Club.
The 16-year-old was followed by a crowd of more than 100 all day, including 25 family members. It was a small percentage of the mobs that watched him become the youngest amateur in 50 years to make a PGA Tour cut last month at the Sony Open in Hawai'i, but it still seemed large because, without ropes, the crowd could get so close.
Fujikawa is the first amateur since Damien Jamila in 1992 to win the $80,000 tournament, which attracts a huge contingent of Japanese pros. Meyer, a four-time Pearl champion, got a $12,000 consolation prize and a trip to Japan as the low pro. It will come in handy. The Hilo pro is a member of the Japan Golf Tour Organization and finished in the top 50 on the money list last year.
But that, and a final-round 67, was only good for second against a 5-foot-1 Menehune from Moanalua High School.
The totally unintimidated Fujikawa put Pearl on The Golf Channel by following up his 20th-place finish at Sony with a win in Hawai'i's toughest local tournament. He closed with a 4-under-par 68 for a tournament total of 11-under 205.
"The best part of his game is his mental approach," said Garret Hayashi, the Mid-Pacific golf coach and Fujikawa's caddie at Sony and Pearl. "He is really mentally tough. To him, anything is possible. It's fearless golf. Him being 16 I think has a little to do with it, but a lot of it is just Tadd."
Three eagles the first two days put Fujikawa at 7-under and three shots off Junpei Takayama's lead going into the final round. Fujikawa caught Takayama at 8-under with birdie on the seventh hole, passed him with another birdie on the next hole and refused to budge with a series of birdie lip-outs and one clutch 6-foot par putt over the next seven holes.
Fujikawa's tee shot on the par-3, 194-yard 16th hole, which he had hacked to the tune of 3-over the first two days, stopped 2 feet from the pin. At that moment someone told him Meyer, playing two groups ahead, had reached 10-under with birdies at Nos. 14 and 15.
It didn't faze Fujikawa at all. He was already trying to hit every shot in the hole.
"I just tried to go for everything, no holding back," the Moanalua sophomore said. "That really, really helped me today."
Fujikawa sank the short birdie putt to tie for first and launched a huge drive into the right rough on the par-5 17th. He punched a 9-iron over the bunker, 10 feet from eagle, but gunned the first putt so hard it rolled right over the center of the hole and 6 feet by it. He missed that and settled for a three-putt par, kicking and slapping his putter as he walked to the final tee.
"I was too excited," Fujikawa admitted. "It was a really good chance for me to pretty much secure the win. I went for it and hit it 6 feet by and I didn't hit a very good second putt coming back. That's golf. You just take it as it comes and hit a better shot the next hole."
It would be only a temporary detour from his dramatic destiny. From 90 yards out on the final hole, Fujikawa hit a precarious sand wedge to the small upper level of the 18th green. The ball released just enough — "It came out pretty much perfect," he said — to cozy up to the pin.
"I told myself hit the best shot you can, hit it solid and don't think about what the outcome is going to be," Fujikawa recalled. "Trust it. I did that and hit it pretty close."
