Aside from putting, Steve Stricker and Justin Keiley's greatest skill yesterday proved to be the ability to sneak ahead of Davis Love III and David Fink in the final minutes to steal away with the King Auto Group Pro-Junior Skills Challenge.

Stricker, fittingly a two-time PGA Tour Comeback Player of the Year, and Keiley, a Baldwin High junior, both eased length-of-the-green downhill putts to gimme range at Waialae Country Club's 18th hole in the final phase to win with 24 points.

Love and Fink won the trick shot competition and took second out of the bunker, but were fifth among five teams in putting. The best shot of each junior and pro counted in each skill. The trick shot involved hitting a ball stuck next to a tree backhanded or off-handed. Love was brilliant in both his attempts, something he attributed to "seeing what Jerry (Kelly) did and doing the opposite."

The seventh Pro-Junior, run in conjunction with Sony Open in Hawai'i, raised $10,000 for the Hawai'i State Junior Golf Association. The five pros also donated their $10,000 to the cause, which has produced local prodigies and Sony stars like Michelle Wie and Tadd Fujikawa.

"It's a great cause — junior golf here in Hawai'i," said Stricker, whose six top-10 finishes last year included a second at Kapalua's Mercedes-Benz Championship and a fourth here in the PGA Tour's first full-field event of the season. "We're happy to help out in a small way.

"I was never able to do this when I was a junior golfer. It would mean a lot — being able to come out and be with people ... he (Keiley) said he wanted to be a pro golfer one day. Hopefully he's looking up to guys like Davis and other guys here. It would have been nice to have something like this."

Keiley tied for second at last year's state high school championship. He was in awe of the pros' languid putting strokes on yesterday's long, downhill putt.

He follows the pros closely on TV, looking for tips. "I've been trying to shorten my swing like Anthony Kim," Keiley said. "It was a little long. I'm trying to make it more simple."

He and Stricker were third going into the final skill with 14 points, behind Love and Fink (20), and Kelly and Kelli Oride (16). Fink, an 'Iolani senior, is headed to Oregon State on a golf scholarship. Oride is a Kaua'i High sophomore who won the KIF as a freshman.

Baldwin sophomore Cassy Isagawa, who won with Kelly last year, placed fourth with Castle High graduate Dean Wilson yesterday. Kamehameha junior Alika Bell played with Punahou graduate Parker McLachlin and finished fifth.

Kelly, the 2002 Sony Open champion, has played in six Challenges and was looking for his third win. His support of Hawai'i junior golf extended to a caddie stint this summer for Moanalua senior Kristina Merkle, when she played in the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links in Kelly's home state of Wisconsin.

"He was a pretty good caddie, but I got harassed a lot afterward," Merkle joked yesterday.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8043.

PRO-JUNIOR CHALLENGE HISTORY

2002 Champions: Brad Faxon and Earl Medeiros.

2003: Tom Lehman and Travis Toyama.

2004: Jerry Kelly and Kellen Watabu.

2005: Retief Goosen and Mari Chun.

2006: No event.

2007: Michelle Wie and Alex Ching.

2008: Jerry Kelly and Cassy Isagawa.

2009: Steve Stricker and Justin Keiley.