'AIEA — With the face of Hawai'i golf growing more baby-faced and brilliant by the minute, the wind tore through the second round of the Hawai'i Pearl Open yesterday leaving a leaderboard full of Japanese pros but peppered by the young and restless from all over paradise.

Tadd Fujikawa, a 16-year-old simply known as "The Boy" around Pearl Country Club, continued his "Boy Wonder" imitation. It began last year when he became the youngest to qualify for the U.S. Open in its 106-year history, and cultivated a monstrous following when he was the youngest to make a PGA Tour cut in 50 years at last month's Sony Open in Hawai'i.

After a disastrous four-putt on his seventh hole yesterday, he played the final dozen in 6-under to finish with a 68. He is three shots off the lead going into this morning's final round. The Moanalua sophomore tees off at 9:10 a.m.

The final round features 18 golfers within six shots of leader Junpei Takayama, a 23-year-old first-year pro from Nagoya who is at 10-under-par 134. Challengers include 11 pros from Japan, Hawai'i pros Tommy Kim (71—138), Greg Meyer (72—139) and Andrew Feldmann (74—140), and the new wave led by Fujikawa, Honoka'a senior Sean Maekawa (68—138) and Kaua'i's Casey Watabu (70—140), the 2006 U.S. Public Links champion.

Takayama took a one-shot advantage into the second round and doubled it with a wind-blown 70 that faded to black as his final group barely beat the last light. Takayama, whose last win came as an amateur for Aichi University, called two of his five birdies "gifts."

The first came on the first hole — a 559-yard par-5 that was his 10th. His drive left him 140 yards to the green, leading to an easy birdie. "Ball must have hit something," Takayama said.

The golf gods smiled again on his final hole (No. 9). His blind approach shot — "I couldn't really see the green in the dark" — stopped 5 feet from the hole.

This is the first time Takayama, Oguro and Naito have seen Hawai'i, let alone played Pearl. So far, ignorance has been bliss.

Oguro, 26, from Kobe, just earned playing privileges on Japan's pro tour. He was introduced to this event by Japan golf icon Isao Aoki, who operates the gym where Oguro trains. Naito, 24, from Fukushima, catapulted up the leaderboard with a 67 and good karma on the greens and with the breeze, which started picking up as the morning wave of players finished.

Then came Fujikawa, who now has three eagles in the tournament and a well-earned reputation for non-stop thrills.

He started with six scrambling pars, shocked himself with a cross-green four-putt for double bogey at No. 16 (his seventh). He had to wait 20 minutes to tee off on the par-5 17th, and launched his drive 402 yards.

"I was mad," said Fujikawa, who two-putted for birdie. "Just imagine, though. I had to wait on the tee. If I had to hit it right after I four-putted I could have gained 20 more yards."

His approach on the next hole kicked left off the green. He finessed a delicate flop shot to 5 feet to save par. He made easy birdie on the par-5 first, an even easier bogey at the second, then clawed into contention.

Fujikawa birdied the third from 15 feet, the fourth from 20, eagled the fifth from 35 feet, lipped out on the following hole, and sank another birdie on the next.

His par on the ninth might have been most spectacular of all. From the right rough he pulled his approach shot. The ball bounced off the cart path and careened toward the second green, 70 yards from the hole.

Fujikawa lined a low draw under the tree that rolled 6 feet past the pin as he made like Sergio Garcia and chased it up the slope. His par putt went in, out and back in as Fujikawa emphatically punched it into the puka.

"It did like a 360 and hung on the lip in front, then I guess I must have stomped hard enough," he said with a grin.

"Boy Wonder" believed he "hit the ball terrible, I was hacking it today ... really terrible shots, one after another. Just crazy. Somehow I just hung in there and grinded and did the best I could."

He salvaged a 68 and a shot at today's championship. Maybe, beyond his smile and power that comes out of his 5-foot-1 body, that resiliency is at the heart of his current popularity and success. He had six one-putts on his final nine yesterday. That can't make anyone ahead of him too comfortable.

"Sony was just a really good experience," Fujikawa said. "I learned a lot and met a lot of people. I think at this tournament I can actually win. I have a good chance. At Sony I did have a good chance but the percentages were a lot lower. Tomorrow, I will have a good chance if I stick to my game and play well and putt well. Hopefully, I won't have any four-putts. Again. I just can't make as many mistakes to have a chance of winning."

Fujikawa was followed by about 100 yesterday, including four security guards armed with "Quiet" paddles. Now a big fish in a little body, he is thriving.

"Any crowd, even if it's five people, is good," he said. "I need somebody there. Somebody is rooting you on. It really makes you feel good when people are cheering for you and want you to do well."

NOTES

Kaimuki junior Chan Kim, who beat Sean Maekawa and Tadd Fujikawa for last year's state high school title, clawed back into contention with the day's low round. Kim, whose quadruple-bogey Friday led to a 77, blasted a 7-under 65 out of the chilly wind yesterday to climb into red numbers.

The pro cut came at 147, with 72 pros advancing to today's final round. There will also be 16 amateurs, who survived a cut of 149 (a minimum of 15 amateurs are guaranteed a place in the final round). Cyd Okino, the 13-year-old Hawai'i State Open women's champ, shot 79—159.

The other two females in the field made the cut. JLPGA player Ai Ogawa is tied for 45th. Maiko Wakabayashi, an 18-year-old amateur from Japan, also rallied with a second-round 70 and shares 56th.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.