Few knew so early but Alex Ching, the Punahou senior who opened the Hickam Invitational shooting a 77 riddled with missed putts, all but clinched his latest adult title with birdies on the first three holes today at Mamala Bay Golf Course.

Ching came into the final round two shots behind Joey Sakaue and confident he had time to erase his deficit. It is a confidence rooted in immense success. The Interscholastic League of Honolulu golf champion, who won last year's OCC Invitational and earned the amateur slot in this year's Sony Open in Hawai'i, will go for his third consecutive state high school doubles tennis championship this week on the Big Island. Next week he gets his first shot at a high school golf title.

It took him three holes — birdie putts of 6 and 15 feet on the first two and a two-putt birdie on the par-5 third — to catch Sakaue. The 23-year-old golf distributor closed with a 73 to finish two behind Ching (69—212) and one back of 'Iolani eighth-grader Lorens Chan (70).

"I'd never been in that position before," said Sakaue, Stephanie Kono's caddie at the Mid-Pacific Open. "It rattled me a little. … Alex has a great game. He hits fairways, hits greens and he knows how to apply the pressure, and he definitely did that. I hadn't done anything wrong after three holes and I already felt like I was having to keep up."

By the time the lead group made the turn, Ching was 4-under for the day and leading by two. His only hiccup came on successive bogeys at Nos. 12 and 13, but there was no stopping him — again. He has learned how to finish, with the fuzzy yellow ball and dimpled white one.

"I didn't want to start playing 'chicken,' protecting my lead," Ching said. "It wasn't like I went out trying to force something. I just needed to play my game. My dad kept telling me to 'see the ball,' which just means hit every shot as if that's the one shot you've got to hit."

Ching focused on his putting after Friday's meltdown. He rallied with a 66 Saturday and closed with another strong round to get in the right frame of mind for the upcoming state championships.

"After the first day I was not confident at all," said Ching, who will play golf for Phil Mickelson's brother Tim at the University of San Diego in the fall. "I just kept working on my game."

Today, he will be working on his tennis. "I have the same mindset for both sports," Ching said. "I want to play to the best of my ability. I want to go out and dig as deep as I can. For both sports, 'seeing the ball' is my focus and philosophy."