Two prominent Hawai'i golfing families — the Kops and the Castillos — were honored at this year's Hawai'i Golf Hall of Fame ceremony with the induction of Brandan Kop and Lori Castillo, leading to the question: Which of the two is the First Family of Golf locally?

Let the debate begin. No disputing, though, that there's yet another family pursuing the game of golf worthy of mention — the Regos.

Arthur and Beatrice Rego also raised a family of golfers — Art Jr., Darrell and Brenda, all Aloha Section PGA members and their youngest offspring, Clyde Rego, a former PGA Tour player, who tragically died at 46 of a heart attack four years ago.

Art Jr., a former head golf professional at Mililani and Waiehu, operates golf concessions at Waiehu, Ala Wai, 'Ewa Villages and West Loch. Darrell is general manager of the nine-hole Ironwood Hills Golf Club, the only golf course on Moloka'i now that Kaluakoi has shut down.

Brenda Rego elevated the family's name with a successful playing career — winning almost every women's tournament on O'ahu, competing on the LPGA Tour and being an assistant pro after becoming a PGA member in 1990. She brought more distinction to the Rego family by becoming the only women's head golf professional in Hawai'i with her recent hiring by the Wailea Old Blue Golf Club on Maui. It's a singular honor, considering there are more than 80 golf courses statewide.

"It's a great opportunity for me," said Rego, 52, who had been an assistant pro at the adjoining Wailea Golf Club's Gold and Emerald courses for nine years and at Waiehu, Maui's municipal course, before that.

"We are extremely happy to have Brenda join us at the Wailea Old Blue," said Barry Helle, the golf club's general manager. "She has the perfect blend of knowledge of the local golf community and also the resort business that we cater to. She is a terrific manager and we are going to benefit tremendously by having her as part of this team," Helle said.

The course's name, "Wailea Old Blue," might throw off some local golf fans, who knew it simply as Wailea Blue before it was sold to private owners. The use of adjective "old" was probably a retro attempt to make it sound like the Old Course at St. Andrew's. It is, though, the oldest of the three Wailea courses, opening in 1972. "Old Blue" hasn't quite caught on and Rego thinks the course will revert to its original name Wailea Blue again.

"It's in great shape," said Rego, who added that minor renovations, such as adding water features, are planned without disrupting play. There's also talk about utilizing the original clubhouse once again, she said.

"We're getting a lot of kama'aina play on weekends, but (resort) play is down all over because of the economy," said Rego, who's looking forward to the challenge of reviving interest in a golf course that once hosted the LPGA Tour's Women's Kemper Open. It still is site of the annual 100 Holes of Golf, an event to benefit Maui charities. It will be held May 24 this year.

Meeting challenges is nothing new for Rego, who was one of leading amateur golfers locally in the 1970s and early '80s, winning the Jennie K. Wilson Invitational and the Hawai'i State Women's Stroke Play Championship in 1976 and the 1982 Hawai'i State Open. She took the Waialae Women's Invitational low-gross honors five times and also won women's invitationals hosted by Navy-Marine, Barbers Point, Oahu Country Club and the Moanalua Golf Club. She might have made a clean sweep of every women's tournament on O'ahu, but there were no state match play championship (from 1973 to '77) and Kane'ohe Invitational (1976 to '79) during the peak of her game.

Rego reached the quarterfinals of the 1977 U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links championship at Madison, Wis., played one year for the University of Hawai'i and graduated from Florida International University in 1979. She turned pro in 1980 after making it through the LPGA qualifying school.

After a back injury curtailed her LPGA stint, Rego gave the mini-tour a brief try before deciding that was it for her playing career. She returned home, first helping her brother Art at the Mililani Golf Club and then following him to Waiehu. Then she moved to Wailea when the Gold Course opened.

It was a short hop next door to Wailea Blue for Rego, but it was a big leap for women pros.

The senior Rego, who used to work for Del Monte Corporation, had playing privileges at the Hawai'i Country Club in Kunia, and that's where his kids learned their golf. Larry Ordonio was just starting out there as a pro at the time and was one of their instructors.

NOTES

Brenda Rego is one of five women who are Aloha Section PGA members. The others are Renee Lee, Makena assistant pro; Lynne Sharman, Hawai'i State Junior Golf Association's tournament director; Jeri Douglas and Chie Shimada-Hearn. Kellie Pleas, former director of golf at the Puakea Golf Course, resigned from the local PGA section and applied to regain her amateur status.

Bill Kwon can be reached at billkwonrhs@aol.com.