Tiger Woods at the 2006 PGA Grand Slam of Golf at Poipu
It’s said golf, competitive golf, is 90 percent mental and 10 percent physical. Tiger Woods is considered the best in the world on both levels. You can imagine how surprised the golf world was when Woods actually made a mental error during a match play round that cost him the next step to the final round of the WGC - Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona.
Tiger Woods says he didn't see the ball mark on the green. He could have repaired it and probably would not have lost the match to Nick O'Hern. It was a short putt.
Match play is like a golf tournament at each hole you play. One wins the hole, and the match starts over again. So you can be doing great, only to see your lead slip away.
Woods was up against Nick O’Hern, one of the only people who has beat Woods in match play. Having been in that position, having already beaten the “Tiger” once before.
But it didn’t help O’Hern come out on top. European Henrik Stenson scored his second win of the year in the final match against Ogilvy.
Henry Stenson with his latest trophy
Some say this was like a mini Ryder Cup, with all of the Americans losing to the European and it just demonstrates how much work the U.S. team has ahead of it under Captain Paul Azinger.
CHAN KIM LEAVES HAWAII FOR THE COMPETITION
Soon after winning the 2007 Hawaii State Amateur Stroke Play Championship at Pearl Country Club in mid March, Chan Kim said he is leaving Hawaii for Arizona. Kim says he needs to be closer to the national competition to improve him game. Kim, who is also the 2006 Hawaii State High School Individual Champion will be back to Hawaii to play in the Islands from time to time. He is an automatic qualifier in the 2008 Sony Open in Hawaii qualifying round after winning the Amateur Stroke Play Championship. Kim’s good friend Tadd Fujikawa is also an automatic qualifier after his 2007 Hawaii Pearl Open win.
Chan Kim and Tadd Fujikawa in 2006
Kim played a final round 2 under par 70 and a tournament total of 9 under par 279. Defending champion Toru Nakajima was three shots back with a 6 under 282.
MONEY TO GIVE AWAY!
The Aloha Section PGA Foundation Scholarship Program is a new program to help high school seniors accomplish their goals for a higher education and for current college students who have actively participated in the game of golf and are good students. These are one year scholarships. The ASPGA scholarship committee has the following criteria:
Be a resident of Hawaii
Demonstrate a Financial Need
Must have completed or plan to complete high school by June 30
Plan to attend a two or four year accredited college or university
Be a full time student leading to an associate or baccalaureate degree.
Get in touch with the Aloha Section PGA for more information and requirements at 808 593-2230 or visit www.aloha.pga.com
BYE BYE VILLAGE COURSE AND KAPALUA’S MARTY KEITER…
Change is one of the most difficult times in life to cope with. Change in a family and change in the work place are a couple of the top stressful situations a person can find themselves in, especially if it’s a change you didn’t want in the first place. That’s what happened for a lot of folks on Maui this spring, as Kapalua closed one of it’s three courses permanently. The Village course is no more. There will be a course there in the coming years, but it will be a private course built, at least initially, for people who want to buy a home on a golf course. It’s all part of the expansion and the changes at Kapalua.
Bob Bubka, World Golf Radio and host of two ESPN golf shows in Boston, interviewing Marty Keiter during the Mercedes Benz Championship.
Marty Keiter, who retired from his position as vice president of golf and tennis at Kapalua as of March 1, 2007, says closing the course and seeing people lose their jobs or have to move to different positions in the resort was one of the most difficult things he has ever had to do.
Keiter was prepared for the change. He’s been at Kapalua for 21 years and it’s time to do something different. He is moving to Montana. He’s not sure exactly what he’ll be doing. As Keiter put it, “It’s an adventure he and his wife Gail are looking forward to. “
ANOTHER RETIREE
Someone else in the golf community is retiring. The Aloha Section PGA executive director Paul Sugimoto will officially step down on June 30th.
Paul Sugimoto, Aloha Section PGA Executive Director since 1996 after working as the Communications Chief in 1991.
PGA Director of Golf at Turtle Bay and the current Aloha Section PGA President said in the Section announcement: “Paul has done a tremendous job.” Sugimoto spearheaded the formation of the Aloha Section PGA Foundation, a 501( c )3 charitable organization and the fundraising arm of the Section.
THE LONGEST COURSE ON OAHU
Ernie Els was in town to check on the progress of his first 18 hole signature 18 hole championship course in Ewa Beach. Els, one of the world’s top players, was on his way to the Johnnie Walker Classic in Phuket, Thailand.
Ernie Els checking out his signature course at Hoakalei
The golf course is close to Haseko’s award winning Ocean Pointe master planned community and will be part of the Hoakalei Country Club.
Ernie Els in Hawaii
Grassing on the west nine is scheduled to start in June. They’re using SeaDwarfÆ seashore paspalum turfgrass, a very environmentally friendly grass that’s also fine textured. It’s salt-tolerant and uses 50 percent less water and up to 75 percent less fertilizer. “It has a tighter knit and delivers faster green speeds that other varieties of this type of grass” says Els, “suited for use from tee to green.”
LPGA WRAPS HAWAII LEG
Welcome to the Field Open at Ko Olina
It wasn’t a picture perfect Hawaiian weekend by any stretch of the imagination but it was a truly "only in Hawaii" weather fluke. While most of the holes at Ko Olina became unplayable on the second day of play with a torrential downpour over most of the course, when play was called off, the players on Ko Olina’s 12th hole had no idea why. That hole was dry while the media center was taking on water. The result was a final day with 80 some players still finishing up their second round and one more to go. This time the day belonged to Stacy Prammanasudh, who scored a wire to wire victory.
Stacy Prammanasudh, 2007 Fields Open champion
Prammanasudh played what the Honolulu Advertisers’ Ann Miller called “bullet proof golf”. She pulled off a one shot victory over Jee Young Lee. Prammanasudh, who won All American honors at Tulsa before joining the LPGA, earned $180,000 for her second LPGA win.
Former Rainbow Wahine Cindy Rarick made the cut by one after a hole-in-one on the 12th.
But Hilo amateur 15 year old Kimberly Kim missed it by three.
CYD OKINO HEADS TO LPGA PLAY
Cyd Okino
Another Hawaii Junior golfer who can’t wait to grow up, 13 year old Cyd Okino has accepted a sponsors exemption to play in the Michelob Ultra Open in Kingsmill Virginia.
This will be her first try at an LPGA Tour event. As one of her teachers put it, she’s stuck in limbo. Casey Nakama, of the Olomana Golf Development Center, says she is too strong for junior golf but it’s going to be hard going up against the best on the LPGA Tour. But if she wants to make the long trip, then good for her. Okina has played at Kingsmill during the U.S. Kids Golfworld Championship. She’s also looking forward to high school golf. She has applied at Punahou, Iolani and Maryknoll. Okino is the winner of the 2005 Hawaii State Women Golf Association Match Play Championship and the defending champ of the 2006 Prince Resorts Hawaii State Open Womens title. This summer she’s planning to try for the U.S. Women’s Open, U.S. Women’s Amateur and the U.S. Girls Junior Championship.
THE MASTERS AT AUGUSTA
Casey Watabu
Casey Watabu is the defending Champion at the U.S. Amateur Public Links and because of that win, Watabu is the latest Hawaii born golfer to play in the Masters at Augusta this month. He left at the middle of March to spend three weeks preparing for the Masters after competing in the Hawaii State Amateur Stroke Play Championship at Pearl Country Club.
It was a come from behind win for Mike Kawate and Roy Nishimoto at the 27th HPLGA 4 Ball golf tournament at the Ted Makalena Municipal golf course. They started the final round fied for tenth but managed an 8 under 63 in windy weather. Second place went to Casey Watabu and Aki Matumura and third to Shakil Ahmed and Rodney Doo.
FRED FUNK MAKES HISTORY
While most of the media was writing the Tiger streak story, PGA Tour and Champions Tour player Fred Funks' amazing accomplishment slipped under the radar. The Tiger streak, 7 wins on the PGA Tour and going for his 8th, was the big news in the media, even though Tiger Woods himself didn’t consider it the record breaking event the media was pushing. Woods lost several events outside the U.S. including Dubai, but since those weren’t PGA Tour sanctioned events, the media still hoped Woods would win his 8th consecutive PGA Tour event, the Accenture Match Play. He didn’t. And so it goes.
Fred Funk never forgets his fans
In the meantime, Fred Funk came to Hawaii for the first Champions Tour full field event at Turtle Bay, the Turtle Bay Championship and beat the field by 11 shots and then went to the Mayakoba Golf Championship in Mexico on the PGA Tour and won that event in a playoff against Jose Coceres. He became only the third player, Craig Stadler and Raymond Floyd were the others, to have won on both Tours in the same season.
CHAMPIONS TOUR 2006 VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR
The PGA Tour’s Champions Tour has selected Joe McDonald of the Turtle Bay Championship as it’s 2006 Volunteer of the Year. A successful airplane pilot/captain for Aloha Airlines for 18 years and for 20 years in the military as an instructor pilot, operations officer and Medi-Vac pilot, McDonald is responsible for recruiting volunteers for all 13 volunteer committees and making sure each committee has uniforms, materials, supplies and equipment needed to run the tournament effectively. Without the volunteer force, the PGA Tour, Champions Tour and LPGA Tour events would not exist and the hundreds of charities around the State of Hawaii would be without their financial support.
Thank you, Joe and all the of volunteers on all of the Tour at all of the events.
GIVING TO THE TROOPS
Remember all of the golf balls piling up in Evansville on their way to the soldiers in Iraq? Not only are they on their way to Iraq, where the soldiers enjoy the driving range, the idea is catching on around the country. Collecting golf balls, clubs and sending them to the troops. The owner of USA Golf in Lawrence Kansas has about 25 hundred clubs and close to 15 thousand golf balls ready to ship. He’s packing them up and sending them off to the nonprofit organization Give2theTroops based in Connecticut. You can find that nonprofit at www.give2thetroops.com.
My son is returning to Iraq in the next month or two. Exact dates aren’t even given to extended family members, like mothers. The spouse gets to know of course. For those of you keeping up, this my son Cains’ third tour. First Iraq, then Afghanistan and back to Iraq. 2 years down and one year ahead.
EXPANDING THE GAME
Tiger Woods has sparked what some call an explosion in Asian golf. The Asian Tour is expanding with corporate interest higher than ever, according to executive chairman Kyi Hla Han who says Tiger has made golf cool. There will be more sponsors and geographically covering 20 countries. The Asian tour figures to be up to 40 tournaments with higher prize money in China, India and South Korea plus Southeast Asia. All of this the result of more young people picking up clubs, with Woods seen largely responsible for that interest. “Now it is a cool sport and a lot of parents, especially in Asia, are encouraging their children to go out and play." This is also in sharp contrast to the state of the Japan Tour, where the number of events has been steadily declining over the years.
All of that excitement on the Asian Tour comes as the Chinese premier says the government is going to enforce a ban on golf course development on agricultural land needed to feed the huge Chinese population. Premier Wen singled out golf courses in his speech to the national legislatures opening session, which sets out the governments priorities for the upcoming year. He was particularly against the use of land for the building of individual homes. Despite the communist government's disapproval, the country holds a half-dozen major tournaments annually that draw top players including No. 1-ranked Tiger Woods. Late last year, one of China's most prominent universities - Peking University - shelved plans to build a practice green after widespread criticism. The university and several other Chinese schools have been promoting golf lessons for business students to prepare them for a commercial world where deals are often made on the links.
SHANGHAI GOLFERS
Close to 500 young golfers from 14 schools turned up at the Laguna National Golf Club to meet European Tour professional Lee Westwood. Some of those students had a chance to take a clinic held by the Ryder Cup star.
Lee Westwood with kids from Singapore
Westwood said the more opportunities the kids have to play, the better, and you’ll get more good golfers coming out of Singapore. The clinic is part of the youth golf program by Emirates, the official airline of the Ian Tan Wei En, a student from Tanjong Katong Secondard School said “I learned a little bit on how to air. And I’ve learned from the pro golfers on how to strike the ball correctly and how to practice properly.”
INDIA GETS GOLF FEVER
Asian tour Jeev Milkha Singh is not yet a super star in India, but he is on his way. In the land of cricket, Singh will become the first player from India to compete in the U.S. Masters at Augusta and in the process doing what no one thought possible – focusing the public attention on golf.
"It has been a dream to play there since I was a boy," said Singh, adding that his appearance on the hallowed greens will help further change attitudes to the sport in India, where it was long seen as a bad career move. "In my time parents were hesitant. I was one of a small bunch that took the plunge but now when the parents see us doing well they think `hey, my kid can do that too`. "I`m hoping that that is the difference that I can make, and it is coming. Singh enjoyed an outstanding year in 2006, winning four times across the world, lifting his maiden Asian Tour`s Order of Merit crown and leaping to 37th place on world rankings. Along with fellow Asian Tour regulars from India like Arjun Atwal, Jyoti Randhawa and Shiv Kapur, he has raised the profile of golf to such an extent that he recently landed a top Indian sportsman of the year award.
Singh is also due to receive an award from Indian President Abdul Kalam, which he said was the equivalent to being knighted.
ACTION ON THE SLOPES AND THE COURSE
Registration is open for the annual ski and golf competition in Bend, Oregon. It’s call the “Race and Ace”, a single day Biathlon where competitors ski or snowboard a dual giant slalom course in the morning and golf 18 holes in the afternoon. There are two days of these competitions in 2007. The series includes three divisions: elite individual, two person teams and four person teams.
The Oregon event, on May 5th, is usually a sell out, so register early. You can get more information at www.raceandace.com. Several improvements have been built into the events this year, including a revamped scoring system allowing for a better combined ski and golf score and better prizes.
It was close but Turtle Bay’s head professional came out on top at the Hilo Invitational. Kevin Carll shot a 6 under 66 in the final round to win by one stroke over Mid Pacific Country Club’s Joe Phengsavath and 16 year old Pono Calip.
Left to right is Lance Taketa, co-chairperson, Pono Calip, Kevin Carll, and Kevin Hayashi, co-chairperson.
Calip was the first round co leader with Jerry Mullen. Until next time, hope you’ll take the a moment to check out “The Golf Club” radio show on Saturday morning from 7 am to 8:30 am or online at www.radiogolfclub.com. Thank you for your Mana and may you hit the sweet spot every time!
Aloha,
Danielle
