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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, March 27, 2008

GOLF REPORT
Former Hawaii juniors win Heather Farr titles

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By Bill Kwon

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Former Maui resident Kyung Kim, who now lives in Arizona, and Trey Kaahanui (below), whose parents are Kahuku High alums also living in Arizona, won their respective divisions at the Heather Farr Classic.

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All that was missing at the Heather Farr Classic awards ceremony in Mesa, Ariz., Sunday was maybe a conch shell blowing, Hawaiian music in the air and lei to go with the trophies held aloft by boys champion Trey Kaahanui and Kyung Kim, who won the girls title.

It was clearly Showtime for the 50th State:

Kaahanui is from nearby Tempe, but he is "Hawaiian at heart," says his mom, Lisa Kaahanui, a 1982 Kahuku High School graduate.

Kim is a transplant from Maui, following the golf trail of two other former Hawai'i junior golf standouts, Kimberly Kim and Chan Kim, all unrelated, to the Phoenix area to play more American Junior Golf Association tournaments.

Despite their youth — Kaahanui is 14 and Kim will be that next Wednesday — they weren't intimidated by the more experienced competition, including 15 Rolex Junior All-Americans, to win their first AJGA titles.

Kaahanui, who had to qualify to enter the event, opened with back-to-back 65s, giving him confidence, he said, in coasting to a five-stroke victory. Chan Kim finished tied for sixth.

In the girls division, Kim overcame early jitters to win by three shots over 15-year-old Danielle Frasier of Encinitas, Calif., a two-time Rolex Junior All-American who led by one stroke going into the final round. Kim never relinquished the lead from the second hole on after Frasier opened with three straight bogeys.

"I was kind of nervous at first," said Kim. "But I was like two strokes ahead going into the 18th hole, so I was a little confident at the end." She birdied the 411-yard hole to punctuate her victory with a 54-hole total of 209.

"I hit a 7-wood into the green because the wind was in my face. I had a 6-foot putt and my hands were shaking. It was the last hole and everybody was watching."

The victory kept her personal winning streak going. She's 4 for 4 this year, winning three 36-hole Arizona junior golf tournaments going into the prestigious AJGA Heather Farr Classic. Its list of previous champions includes Kimberly Kim last year and Paula Creamer in 2003 and 2004. Kim and Punahou senior Stephanie Kono tied for third in this year's tournament, giving Hawai'i juniors three of the top four spots. Reigning state high school champion Anna Jang was 22nd and Marissa Chow 44th.

As with the other two Kims from Hawai'i, Kyung feels the move to Arizona last August definitely helped to improve her game despite the sacrifice her parents, Douglas and Eun Young Kim, had to undertake in leaving their home on Maui. They now operate a gift shop in Mesa, while their only child attends Anderson Junior High in Chandler.

"I really appreciate them for doing this to further my golfing career," says Kyung.

"I miss Hawai'i. It's too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter here. But I get to practice here more than when I was in Hawai'i," said Kim, one of three players advancing to the 2007 U.S. Women's Open after the sectional qualifying at the Turtle Bay Palmer Course last summer.

"I still haven't grown that much," said the Maui native, who was 5 feet 1 and barely 100 pounds then.

She's still a Maui girl at heart. Her e-mail address is "kyungmauigirl." And she along with Chan and Kimberly still hang on to their cell phones with an 808 area code.

The three Kims aren't the only Arizona residents still thinking about Hawai'i. So does the Kaahanui family.

Ted and Lisa Kaahanui were married in Tempe 22 years ago and decided it was the place to raise their family of five boys and a daughter because of the cost of living in Hawai'i.

"We send the boys home during the summer. They love to go back and visit their relatives in Kahuku and Hauula," said Lisa. "We're still Hawaiian at heart. We listen to Hawaiian music, eat Hawaiian food and we still talk pidgin. His (Trey's) choice of food at the turn is Spam musubi. Mommy makes good ones."

It was in Hawai'i that Trey got his first taste of golf — from his grandfather Raymond Caldeira.

"It all started in Hawai'i when I was 8 years old. My grandpa started me," he said.

Grandpa had Trey chipping in the backyard and later took him to the 9-hole Kahuku Municipal Course.

Lisa's father obviously had a keen eye for talent.

"He told me, 'That boy's a natural.' He told me to enroll him in a junior golf program as soon as he got back," she said. "He won the first tournament he played in by 10 strokes."

First, though, Trey had to ask his father if he could take up golf instead of playing football like his three older brothers, Travis, Trevor and Trent.

"We were all football players," said Trey, who's 5 feet 11 and 160 pounds, and still growing.

"He's built like a Hawaiian," says Lisa. "We're a football family."

The family tradition started back at Kahuku "where football is big," she said. Ted was a starting lineman for the Red Raiders and went on to play at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Ore., while Lisa attended Oregon State.

Ted was first taken aback by Trey's desire to play golf instead of football.

"Golf? You kidding me? You sissy or what?" he recalled saying at the time.

Now the whole family is taking up golf, including Ted — in part as rehab after nearly dying in a head-on auto collision three years ago — and the two younger kids, 9-year-old sister Taryn and Tyson, 7.

Also, mom. "I'm trying to golf. I'm addicted now. Trey started it all," said Lisa, who thinks Tyson is going to be the best of them all, "even better than Trey."

Trey doesn't disagree. "He's good now. He started (playing) way before me."

For now, Trey is king of the clubs in the Kaahanui household.

The best thing about his victory? "I'm exempt for AJGA tournaments. I don't have to qualify any more," said Trey, who dedicated the win to his grandfather.

NOTE: At the AJGA Championship at Traditions last weekend at Texas A&M, Honolulu's Ayaka Kaneko tied for 11th in the Girls Division and Waikoloa's Henry Park finished 17th in the Boys.

Bill Kwon can be reached at billkwonrhs@aol.com