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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, August 20, 2009

OCC Men's tees off today


    Advertiser Staff

     • Wie gets to team up with USA's best
    Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

    Brandan Kop

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    Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

    Jonathan Ota

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    The 46th annual Oahu Country Club Men's Invitational tees off this morning with 50 players in the Open Division and 40 more in the Senior Division (55-older).

    The field will be cut to the low 30 and ties tomorrow for Saturday's final round. The Senior Championship is decided in the first 36 holes.

    Alex Ching will not defend his title because he's playing in the U.S. Amateur Championship, which starts Monday in Tulsa, Okla.

    Hawai'i Golf Hall of Famer Brandan Kop, who won the 1998 OCC Invitational and is a four-time Manoa Cup champ at OCC, will play.

    Others in the field include past champion Jonathan Ota, who also won the Manoa Cup, along with Ryan Perez and Kellen-Floyd Asao. Layne Morita, Manoa Cup runner-up this year, and juniors Lorens Chan, Alex Chu and Henry Park are also in.

    Two-time champion Wendell Kop is playing in the senior flight, along with Mervin Matsumoto, George Yamamoto, Phil Anamizu and Tom Goodbody.

    Players go out at 6:45 a.m. today and tomorrow and 11 a.m. Saturday, with the final group expected to finish about 5 p.m. ALOHA SECTION PGA

    The Aloha Section PGA will conduct its second major championship of the season Sunday and Monday at Kapalua's Plantation Course on Maui. The Kapalua Hall of Fame Championship is a 36-hole stroke play event with golfers teeing off from 7 a.m. each day. The Pro-Am is Saturday.

    The tournament has been played at Plantation, site of the PGA Tour's season-opening event, since 1991. Kevin Carll of Turtle Bay shot a 2-over-par 148 at the last Hall of Fame Championship, in 2007, for his second win. Carll will defend his title this year.

    Brendan Moynahan, of Hualalai Resort, finished one shot back two years ago. First-round leaders Jerry King, of Kapalua, and Matt Pakkala, of Mililani, tied for third. Larry Stubblefield will be back to defend the Senior Division title.

    The 34 island professionals will play for a combined purse of $14,200. Winning professional gets $2,000, a roundtrip air certificate from Continental Airlines and points towards Governor's Cup selection and Section PGA Player of the Year.

    The Hall of Fame Championship is held in honor of the Hawai'i Golf Hall of Fame. In 1988, the Aloha Section PGA established the Hall to commemorate the history of golf in Hawai'i and honor those individuals who have contributed to the game through their accomplishments as players or through their service to golf.