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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, January 28, 2007

GOLF
Ishii unable to take advantage

By Bill Kwon
Special to the Advertiser

A disappointing 70 left Hawai'i’s David Ishii nine shots off the lead in Turtle Bay Championship.

RONEN ZILBERMAN | Associated Press

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KAHUKU — David Ishii shot a 2-under-par 70 but was visibly disappointed about what might have been going into Sunday's final round of the Turtle Bay Championship.

On a rare, calm Saturday when the Palmer Course "was there for the taking," according to second-round leader Fred Funk, Ishii lost ground on golf's moving day.

He's tied for 12th at 138, nine strokes behind Funk, who tacked on a 64 to his opening-round 65 in the Champions Tour's first full-field event of the year.

Ishii, who's playing on a sponsor's exemption, scaled the leaderboard as high as a tie for second when he birdied three of his first five holes. But the kick-in birdie he made at the par-4 fifth was his final one of the day as 32 players took advantage of the ideal conditions to post rounds in the 60s.

Maybe not rattled, but Ishii was definitely affected by being warned for slow play. His group, which included Jerry Pate and D.A. Weibring, were warned about being out of position, but was never timed or put on the clock, according to a rules official.

"I was a little bit rushed on my tee shots coming down nine and 10," Ishii said. "The officials telling us to catch up. After the 10th hole I just lost my rhythm. I didn't hit the ball very good after that. I was trying to hurry up, yeah. But we weren't very far behind."

Hurry-go golf led to his only bogey of the day at the 10th hole, when he pushed his drive, clipped a tree trying to punch out and fell short of the green.

"After that, it wasn't good the rest of the day," said Ishii, who parred in.

Perhaps the most telling example of his losing confidence in his driver came at the par-5 18th hole, which he had eagled the day before.

"I wasn't driving the ball very well the last nine holes. I figured if I hit a good 3-wood, maybe I could go for it (in two). But if I miss it, then I would just play for the layup."

Ishii had to lay up, leaving him 129 yards from the pin after pulling his second shot. He pitched to 8 feet but missed his birdie try and had to settle for a disappointing par at a hole that yielded 34 birdies on the day.

"That hurt," Ishii said. "Today was an easy day. No wind. Just had to hit the ball in the fairway. Not very long second shots if you got them in the fairway."

Ishii isn't looking too far ahead about getting a top-10 finish and a chance to play in the next Champions Tour event, the Allianz Championship, in Boca Raton, Fla., if he did.

"I just want to shoot under par. I just got to play good tomorrow," added Ishii, who finished tied for 29th here last year.