Danielle Tucker

Some people just see more possibilities in life than the rest of us. There is a cute phrase for it, usually used in business. It's called "thinking outside the box". "The box" is the world, life, as we know it from our parents or society.

There are those of us who are dreamers. We dream really big during that time between "small kid time" and puberty. When I was ten, Babe Ruth was one of my hero's. Nobody could touch the Babe in baseball. I wanted to be as good a baseball player as he was. (Of course we didn't hear about his hard drinking, cigar smoking, womanizing private life back then.)

As for what I really wanted to be when I grew up was a fighter pilot. It was pointed out to me that I was a girl and girls don't become fighter pilots. When I argued that I was going to be the exception, I was always shot down with my physical flaw. I wore glasses. Fighter pilots couldn't wear glasses.

So while most of us end up taking paths in life well trod, there are those who do break out and change what society says is possible, and even what man believes is possible. When that happens, there is a quantum shift in the way the next generation views its options in life. Women working in the factories during World War Two changed the way a woman felt about what she was really capable of.

I'm talking about young people who did, and do things no one dared do before. In the world of golf, three of these people are in the spotlight this month.

These three are always thinking outside the box: David Ishii, Tiger Woods and Michelle Wie. They are the trail blazers for the next generations. They provided the world "outside the box" for the next generation. And that generation will think outside what will become the old "box".

David Ishii during an interview on "The Golf Club" radio show at the 2006 Hawaii Pearl Open

The first is David Ishii, a local Hawaii boy, born and raised on Kauai no less, a young man who decides he is going to take his golf game away from the world he and his family has known. He is a local boy who is going to leave Hawaii to play professional golf. Leaving Hawaii is a major move for a local boy. But Ishii isn't just leaving Hawaii to work somewhere. He is going to play as a professional golfer at one of the highest levels.

Young Ishii decides his is going to play against the best on the Japan PGA Tour. Not only does he earn his Japan PGA Tour card, he competes full time for the rest of his life and along the way earns over 8 million dollars, and in 1987 becomes the first foreigner to win the Japan PGA Tour Money title. Then he wins the PGA Tour Hawaiian Open at the Waialae Country Club, the Sony Open in Hawaii, against the best players in the world. Along the way, Ishii won the Hawaii State Open three times and the Hawaii Pearl Open six times.

When Ishii was inducted into the Hawaii Golf Hall of Fame last month, just turning 50, he beat the top field in the state of Hawaii by winning the 2006 Mid Pacific Open championship at Mid Pacific Country Club on April 23. Even the induction dinner was a first for the Aloha Section PGA. In the past, the Hall of Fame inductees were feted with a luncheon.

I didn't know David Ishii personally back in the 1970's and the 1980's when he was learning the game of golf from Toyo Shirai at the Wailua Municipal Golf Course. I didn't know him when he won the Manoa Cup and the State Stroke Play Championship, or when he was captain of his University of Houston golf team and led his team to the 1977 NCAA Championship. I wasn't at the Point After when he met his wife Lorraine. I certainly spent many nights at the Point After. It was one of the night clubs you were lucky to get into. When you did, you went shoulder to shoulder, hip to hip, with the hundreds just trying to find enough space to hold a drink, moving involuntarily but without rancor with the mass of humanity as we were pushed and pushed our way through that 1980's "place to be seen". I knew of David Ishii because he was making news.

David Ishii, 2006 Hawaii State Golf Hall of Fame Inductee with Danielle Tucker at the Induction dinner

I was News Director at a local radio station and co host of a morning radio show. Many Monday mornings I'd get the news on just how well Ishii was doing on the Japan PGA Tour from the Associated Press news wire and I'd include it in my news cast. My boss called me on the carpet several times for "wasting time on a sport the masses don't care about". But it was my call. It didn't have anything to do with golf. It had everything to do with Ishii being on the Japan PGA Tour and doing it successfully. A local boy making history.

One morning I got the best phone call. It was David's wife.

Lorraine Ishii with Danielle Tucker - David Ishii Hawaii State Golf Hall of Fame dinner

She was calling to tell me how much she appreciated the fact that I was including information about her husband because otherwise she couldn't get the information. That was before international telephone calling cards could be bought for pennies a minute, before the Internet, before email. Like Ishii said when he accepted his place in the Hawaii Golf Hall of Fame, he couldn't have done it without his wife. She was the one who went for months without seeing him, taking care of the children, the home, and holding the family together.

Today we have Castle High graduate Dean Wilson on the PGA Tour, Punahou graduate Parker McLaughlin on the Nationwide Tour and a couple of adopted Hawaii in-laws including Dave Eichelberger on the Champions Tour. There are many young men, like Pearl Country Club teaching professional Regan Lee, tackling the Japan PGA Tour Q School and the mini tours on the mainland. We even have young teenagers relocating to the mainland, leaving one parent behind, so they can be where the golf competition is fierce.

Tiger Woods - Dressed for charity stock car racing!

Our next trail blazer: Tiger Woods, a young African American man who today is the number one golfer and the most recognized sports figure in the world. Tiger earns over 80 million dollars a year playing golf and endorsing products because everyone on the planet wants his name attached to their product or associated with their company. Tiger Woods just turned 30 when his father Earl Woods died from complications associated with prostate cancer last month, a battle the former Green Beret had been fighting for at least two years.

Tiger Woods with his father Earl Woods

When Earl passed away last month, he was 74 and a trail blazer in his own right. As Jason Sobel writes in his May 4th column for ESPN.com, Earl "was more determined to raise a good son than a great golfer, and he became the architect and driving force behind Tiger Woods' phenomenal career." Many parent child coaching relationships don't last long, if at all. For Tiger, he said "My dad was my best friend and greatest role model, and I will miss him deeply. I'm overwhelmed when I think of all the things he accomplished in his life. He was an amazing dad, coach, mentor, soldier, husband and friend. I wouldn't be where I am today without him, and I'm honored to continue his legacy of sharing and caring."

From Jason Sobel: "Earl Woods played catcher for Kansas State, the first black to play baseball in the Big Eight Conference, and he had been a Green Beret for two tours in Vietnam. But he felt his true purpose was to train Tiger and he watch is son evolve into a dominant player of his time - the youngest player to win the career Grand Slam - and one of the most celebrated athletes in the world."

There is a quote in Sobel's article from Earl Woods, who met his wife Kultilda during one of his tours in Vietnam. She is Thai and Chinese. The quote from the father came after Tiger was named Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year. "He's the bridge between East and the West. He'll do more than any other man in history to change the course of humanity." Earl Woods dreamed of his son being able to impact nations.

A big part of this surge in the popularity of golf is without a doubt the doing of Tiger Woods. Unfortunately, Woods expected a larger African American response. But most people don't have Tigers talent PLUS a person to recognize it and nurture it and PAY for it. There's the rub. The money problem. It takes financial backing to make it in this game. If they are talented, most young people have to start on the mini tours and that is a lot of money.

Bob Malinaro, at HamptonRoads.com wrote about the money it takes to get into the game. He talked with Al Hatten, who created the Tidewater Youth Golf Association 19 years ago. In 2000, Woods went to Ocean View for an exhibition. That created a stir but six years later, the buzz is falling off and so is participation. As Hatten put it "You can take one basketball, put up a hoop and entertain 50 kids. But when you walk on a golf course, you need a complete set of clubs. And there aren't enough people willing to be teaching volunteers. Hatten says they'd rather be playing than teaching. As Malinaro points out, golf has actually gotten whiter. No one has come to replace Calvin Peete, Jim Thorpe, Lee Elder and Charlie Sifford. They came from the municipal courses. We are seeing a lot more Hispanic and Asian players, and not just on the men's tours.

Young men followed in Tigers footsteps but the real biggest response to the gifted Woods came from young female junior golfers. Oh yea, just like the Beatles captured the hearts of many a young woman, girls were taken by Tiger. He was young, he was cute, he has a smile to die for and he made golf a very cool game to play. Girls want to be cool. One in particular of course was inspired to not just play golf, but take on the guys and play the best of the best.

Michelle Wie

Michelle Wie. She is a young Asian beauty, born in Hawaii but who can call the entire planet home. Wie wants to do the unheard of too. She wants to compete against men, she wants to earn her playing card on the PGA Tour, and she wants to play in the Masters at Augusta, Georgia. Augusta, where women aren't invited to be members.
Wie is blazing a trail not just for Asians but for women, young girls who want to be fighter pilots. With her parents recognizing her talent, nurturing her desire and PAYING for the training, Michelle Wie, at the age of 16, is now among Time magazine's "100 most influential people in the world today". Time's Jeff Chu wrote, in part, "The (Hawaii) high schooler, who turned pro only in October, is already No. 2 in the women's world golf rankings. She tops the pay scale, pocketing about $10 million a year in endorsements from Nike and Sony. Her sponsors are betting on a player who has never won a pro tourney. ‘They believe in my dreams,' she says."

Michelle Wie - 2006 SK Telecom Open

Since that article, Wie has added a couple more endorsement deals including Omega and a South Korean developer. She has made the cut in a men's event, on the Asian Tour in South Korea, the 2006 SK Telecom Open at Sky 72, who some say was chosen as the event for her game, by her father. But that sounds like sour grapes at this point. Also since that article in Time, Wie is no longer ranked in the Rolex Women's World Ranking. In it's infancy, two months ago, the Rolex based it's ranking on 15 events over 2 years. I think that was a very clever way of making sure that the new ranking got lots of media attention. After taking lots of criticism, from the players on the LPGA Tour, the Tour has changed it's divisor number. After all, how many professional players only play in events in 2 years and why was the divisor number uneven? Seven events from one year and eight from another? Marketing is the name of the game and getting your name on the front page.

So there you have it. Trail blazers.

David Ishii talking with Danielle Tucker on "The Golf Club" radio show from the 2006 Hawaii Pearl Open at the Pearl Country Club

Just like Ishii said on "The Golf Club" during the 2006 Hawaii Pearl Open this February, one of his favorite accomplishments in golf is creating the David S. Ishii Golf Foundation. The Foundation helps young golfers with scholarships and competition opportunities. The month of may features the Hawaii High School State Championships put on by the Foundation. For my deadline, I can only report on the girls event at the Turtle Bay Fazio course.

Most of the top high school players, with the exception of Stephanie Kono, had just finished the Jenny K. Wilson Invitational at a very difficult Mid Pacific Country Club set up with wind, rain and superintendent Jason Amoy's pin placements. Then, with just one day off, they took on the Fazio course at Turtle Bay for the David S. Ishii Foundation Girls Hawaii State High School Championship. This is both a team and individual scoring challenge. Punahou, with Stephanie Kono, was favored to win. But Moanalua had an ace up it's sleeve.

Kristina Merkle had just won the 2006 Jenny K. Wilson Championship Flight.

This is how it came down.

Stephanie Kono, Sophmore at Punahou - David S. Ishii Foundation Hawaii High School State Golf Championship at the Turtle Bay Fazio course (Photo courtesy 808golf.com)

Punahou's Stephanie Kono shot a 64 and a 72. That score led to three records. Top individual score of the tournament, a course record on the Fazio course, and a HHSSGC tournament record low. But Kono wasn't the only one fired up.

Merkle, a little tired from her three days of intense competition, shot a 71 and a 72 at the Fazio course for second place in the individual scoring and she inspired her Moanalua High School team to victory, a first for an OIA school. Moanalua team coach Josh Suapaia said every coach in the OIA was rooting for Moanalua. And Ishii was there for part of the competition and during the medal ceremony.

Moanalua is looking good for the David S. Ishii Foundation HHSSGC at the Turtle Bay Palmer course with Tadd Fujikawa on the team but there is also the threat of Kaimuki with 16 year old Chan Kim, who some say has the best potential of any local male golfer to play professionally.

Big month for Michelle Wie, as I mentioned earlier. She brought home another three million dollar, two year endorsement deal. The South Korean developer said her spirit in competitions against men benefits ShinYoungs image as a developer.

At the 2006 SK Telecom Open at Sky 72 golf club in Seoul Korea on the Asian Tour, Hawaii's Michelle Wie made her first cut in a men's PGA event on Friday March 12th. Some say she isn't the first because Se Ri Pak did it last year on a men's event in South Korea. Others say she has finally joined Babe Zaharias as the only women to make a cut in a PGA men's event. Wie spoke in her family's first language, Korean, to the media. Translated, she said she was happy to make the cut, but she wants to play even better because there's a lot more golf to play. Unfortunately round three was canceled because of rain and the tournament was cut to three rounds. She finished the event on Sunday in 35th place. The day off seemed to affect her momentum. What was different this 8th attempt to make a men's tour cut, she said nothing really. "I just practiced a lot." Others say the course was made to order for her game. Next on her to do list:Michelle Wie has selected to play in the Summit, New Jersey, US Open qualifying sectional event on June 5th, at Canoebrook Country Club. Sectional qualifying over 36 holes will be held at 12 sites from June 5-6. Wie made it through the first stage to the U.S Open by winning the U.S Open local held at Turtle Bay's Palmer Course. Wie will be playing in the 2006 U.S Women's Open on a USGA exemption.

It's seems appropriate that she pulled off her first men's cut on the weekend of the Jenny K Wilson Women's Invitational at Mid Pacific Country Club where she won when she was 11 years old. The Saturday before Michelle Wie's victory that year, her mother brought her into Mid Pacific Country Club general manager Hal Okita's office where I was doing "The Golf Club" radio show. Overlooking that glorious view of the Koolau, Wie sat down for her first radio interview. She talked with me about the hours of practice she put in, weekdays and weekends, the work she was doing with her first coach, Casey Nakama at Olomana Golf Course and her dreams. That was just five years and what seems to be a life time ago.

Portrait of Jenny K. Wilson

View of the ocean off Lanikai from the clubhouse at the Mid Pacific Country Club

The Jenny K. was a tough event this year with Jason Amoy still outdoing himself in making a very challenging golf course. I'm convinced Amoy's goal is to set up a USGA US Open championship golf course. The teenagers dominated in the Championship flight. Kristina Merkle walked away the winner, With a one over par 73 on her final day and a tournament total of 5 over 221. This was the 56th Jennie K. and probably one of the smallest fields in recent history.

Winners of the Jenny K. Wilson Invitational at Mid Pacific Country Club

The Jennie K. tournament committee wants to get the word out that the field isn't filled as soon as the invites go out, So make plans to play in the Jenny K next year. Kristina Merkle came in first. Kyung Kim, the leader after the first two rounds had to fight for her final round 79 which still put her in second place. Bobbi Kokx and Desiree Ting tied for third. I want to congratulate all of the players and thank all of the aforementioned for joining me in the club house during "The Golf Club" radio show. It was fun talking with all of you, including Kellie Oride, her first time on "The Golf Club".

Kellie Oride at the Mid Pacific Country Club pro shop checking in for her tee time in the Jennie K. Wilson Invitational

"The Golf Club" with host Danielle Tucker broadcasting from the Jenny K. Wilson Invitational at the Mid Pacific Country Club

The Hickam Amateur Invitational with 15 year old Tadd Fujikawa defending champ at Hickam Mamala Bay golf course got rained out Friday the 5th so it's been postponed to September 8, 9 and 10th. The Jenny K. was playing in that Friday downpour! Moanalua High 14 year old Fujikawa and Pearl Country Clubs' Joe Phengsavath are the two other local U.S. Open qualifers from Oahu going up against the qualifers from Kauai, the Big Island and Maui at Poipu on June 5th.

On Maui this month, the 2006 Hawaiian TelCom Hall of Fame Championship at the Kapalua Plantation course was a huge success with Kevin Hayashi defending his championship. 52 Aloha Section PGA professionals teed off in the 16th annual championship golf tournament. Hayashi had a two day total of three over par on the Plantation Course winning the event by just one shot over Brian Sasada who is looking real good this year. Matt Pakkala was third and John Frietas fourth. In the Senior Division, it was Dugal Milne, Ron Kiaaina Junior and Clif Council. And in the Super Senior division, defending champ Ron Castillo Senior kept his title. They were playing for a 20 thousand dollar purse and points for the Player of the Year honor.

The Hawaii State Women's Golf Association State Tournament is the first weekend in August. First round at the Kahili course and the second at Ellaire. Call the HSWGA for more information.

The United States Golf Association says all golf clubs in the nation must be licensed in order to provide official USGA handicap records for members. The deadline to be licensed has been extended to July first. If your golf club is not licensed, you can't play in any golf tournament that requires a USGA approved handicap as one of the entry requirements, assuming you only have that club as your handicap keeper. A USGA GHIN is now required for most tournaments in Hawaii. Call the Hawaii State Golf Association for details.

Michael Patrick Shiels will be taking us to New Zealand. Here's a preview of the view from one of the courses.

The Kauri Cliffs

From the British Open, Peter Dawson, the R and A chief executive, says " I personally hope we will see women enter the Championship. We didn't open the event up to them in the hope they wouldn't come." So far no women have taken advantage of the new rule.

Also from England, Pam Chugg, the Ladies Golf Union chair and founder of the Ladies European Tour is encouraging clubs to ease up on their old fashioned clothing rules so the young will be more inclined to play. As she put it, if girls were to turn up dressed like Paula Creamer, some clubs would be shocked. Scandalous!

Until next time, thank you for your Mana and may you hit the sweet spot every time.

Aloha,
Danielle

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