Friday, May 16, 2008
Friday, May 16, 2008
The winners of the 11th Hilo Invitational Golf Tournament. From left to right is Lance Taketa, Committee Co Chairperson; Nick Mason, (Professional), 2008 Hilo Invitational Champion; Stephanie Kono, Low Amateur, Kevin Hayashi, Committee Co-Chairperson.
Photo by Lee Hardy
What can you say about this game. Stephanie Kono, heading to UCLA on a golf scholarship, beat the Aloha Section Player of the Year Kevin Hayashi and she did it on his home turf! I’m just thrilled she isn’t immediately turning pro.
The last time I talked with Lee Hardy from the Hilo Municipal Golf Course, he was amazed at how late in the process they were in putting together the 11th Hilo Invitational Pro-Am and Golf Tournament. It just goes to show if you put something together right for a few years, the greased wheels get an easy kick-start to a terrific show.
Lee Hardy wrapped up his hard work at the tournament with this recap:
Professional Nick Mason captured the 11th Hilo Invitational Pro-Am and Golf Tournament today with an impressive 63-68 (131) total and a ton of birdies. Mason bolted out of the gate on Sunday and birdied five of the first six holes with a red-hot putter.
Mason’s eagle-birdie finish capped off a brilliant display of putting and a six-stroke victory over fellow professional Jacob Low, who finished alone in second at 137 (69-68).
Stephanie Kono took low amateur honors after shooting an even-par 71 to finish at 3-under par and third place overall. Kono opened with a 68 on Saturday.
Professionals Kevin Hayashi and Kevin Shimomura ended up tied for fourth place at 142.
During the last two days, Mason made 17 birdies and 2 eagles—and he credits his success to how he thinks.
“My comfort level at (Hilo) Muni makes me feel like I can birdie every hole. That kind of mind set takes all the stress away”, he said. “Especially when you enter a golf tournament and everybody wants to have you here”…“and the tournament treats everybody so well, having a comfort level like that is a huge advantage.”
“Plus it’s special here in Hilo—this tournament is the first I ever won as an amateur—and that’s a good feeling, it ties in to my comfort level.”
But the Scottsdale, Arizona resident knows all too well how tough it is to follow up a great round like the 63 he had on Saturday.
“My main focus in the final round was to stick to being aggressive and after the first few holes, everything was going okay—but I ran into a rough patch in the middle” said Mason.
“I got very conservative with my play and you just cannot do that”.
Kono, on the other hand, cannot remember how the golf course is supposed to play, since this was only her second time out here. “I played here before but it was like 8 years ago”, she said. Konos start to her final round was not what she expected either, bogeying the first two holes before making birdies on three of the next six holes.
“It took a while for me to find my rhythm, so I just tried to stay patient”, Kono said.
Paired with Hayashi and Mason, Kono also tried to stick to her game plan—which was very simple. “I tried to start out playing my own game. I didn’t think about what they were doing, especially since those guys can hit the ball so far.”
Kono was also happy to share what she had learned from watching Hayashi and Mason play and how it can help her get better as a golfer.
“I really found out how much more I need to work on shots around the green—Uncle Kevin told me how I need to get more creative and hit different type shots.”
Mason pocketed five thousand dollars as well as a crystal trophy while Kono received a gift certificate of $750.00 along with a crystal trophy of her own.
The tournament committee is also very grateful to the grounds crew of the Hilo Municipal Golf Course. After receiving over 50 inches of rain a few weeks ago, they worked hard to get the flood-damaged areas of the golf course ready for this year’s championship.
HILO INVITATIONAL PRO-AM WINNERS
Nick Mason’s 8-under (63) on Saturday helped propelled his pro-am team KTA Superstores #1 to victory. Members of the winning team include Elaine Shikuma, Jere Usui, and Dwayne Miyashiro.
MY CHAMPIONS TOUR EXCELLENT ADVENTURE
We really are very lucky we live Hawaii. Yes, we have to work hard to keep up with the cost of living. Sometimes everyone in the family needs a job or two just to make ends meet. But at least when we want to take a vacation, it's just a hop across a channel to a neighbor island for a vacation folks on the mainland save a lifetime for.
For golfers who like to play and watch the best of the best play the game, well it just doesn't get much better than the first two months of the year, at least for now.
Looking back on January and February, you could have taken off a week on Maui for the Mercedes Benz Championship, or stayed in Waikiki and taken in the Sony Open in Hawaii. You could have gone to the Big Island's Kona coast for the MasterCard Championship Hualalai or spent the week on the North Shore of Oahu for the Turtle Bay Championship. Next year, both of those Champions Tour events will have new sponsors or new locations! Hopefully still in Hawaii.
In February, you could have come out for a tremendous local event that drew professionals and amateurs from around the world to the Pearl Country Club for the 30th Hawaii Pearl Open.
Then the LPGA kicked off it's season with the SBS Open at Turtle Bay where Annika Sorenstam took home the trophy and let the world know she is ready to take back the number one spot from Lorena Ochoa.
The next week was the heartbreaker. You had to choose between the LPGA in the Fields Open at Ko Olina and the Wendy's Champions Tour Skins game at Kaanapali.
I may have missed seeing Paula Creamer pull off an upset despite being very sick but I came home to Oahu from Kaanapali filled with memories, and hopefully some relationships, that'll last literally for the rest of my life.
In Hawaii, you are among only four thousand people, spread around the course, if that many at some locations. You've got the "front row", sight of the swing, sound of the crack of the ball, swoosh out of the bunker and into the cup "seats". It's awesome.
Since I covered the Fields last year, I was off to Kaanapali.
In some cases, like at the PGA Grand Slam of Golf or the Wendy's Champions Tour Skins game, there are even fewer spectators. That was the case at the Wendy's Champions Skins game at Kaanapali, its new location after years at Wailea and Mauna Lani. I couldn’t pass it up.
WENDY’S CHAMPIONS TOUR SKINS GAME
If you made it there, you know how lucky you were. When it came right down to the last few hours, the second day with defending champions Jack Nicklaus and partner Tom Watson holding 270 thousand dollars and looking at another victory, some would say mayhem broke out. Team Fuzzy Zoeller and David Jacobson were going for the Skin that would take them past the Nicklaus/Watson 270 thousand-dollar mark and to victory. The fans were practically in the bunker with them! Some folks who follow golf events for a living were horrified to see the frenzy just a few people got themselves into following the action, right into the bunker. The fans managed to recover their sanity and get the heck out of the playing field.
There are a number of wonderful memories I'll treasure for the rest of my life.
I was very impressed with how approachable these giants of the game are.
They, without exception, happily sighed autographs and waved at the fans shouting out their names.
Sitting at the next table, I couldn’t help see the Nicklaus family sitting around their table over lunch. The broadcast of the first 9 holes was on ESPN. One of Mr. Nicklaus' many grandchildren was happily moving through the tables and they called out to him to stick around. They were all just waiting for a TV shot they were sure included their grandson!
Palmer was out on the driving range warming up, while fans just stood and reveled in the peace of it all. But there is always someone who needs something. Let me introduce my good friend Michael Patrick Shiels who is writing a book and needed just a minute with Mr. Palmer. Everyone always just needs a minute, which always turns into five or ten minutes.
While I was setting up my broadcast table, I went out to get a cup of coffee. I had to keep my nonchalance composure as Gary Player, at 6 AM, passed by me with his buffet breakfast plate in hand, greeting me with a very cheery "good morning!". Minutes later, he was out on the practice putting green. Next thing you know, he’s on the driving range.
This year the Wendy's Champions Skins at Kaanapali was played on Saturday and Sunday. It was perfect for folks who find a full 18 holes in the sun a bit much to handle. It was also a very difficult weekend for many because of the incredible amount of vog from the continuing eruption on Mauna Loa on the Big Island.
On Saturday, we couldn't see Molokai from Kaanapali.
But whales! We saw so many whales breaching, spouting, rolling, pounding the water with their flukes and fins, it was astounding. Kama'aina, you have got to go out on a whale-watching cruise. 20 years ago when those cruises became popular, you were lucky to see a whale, much less a complete pod. One visitor told me during her whale-watching trip, the boat she was on had to simply stop because the pod of whales completely surrounded their boat and stayed with them the whole time they were out. This visitor was convinced the whales were attracted to the sound of the music onboard ship.
You don't even have to go out on a boat the see the whales, if that sort of travel makes you queasy.
My executive producer, Rick Gray, assistant producer Mary Engle and I were standing on the lanai of our room at The Westin Kaanapali. "Did you see that one...yea...Did you see that one...Yea...No, I mean that one over there. See? Yea! Wow, that’s three pods!"
Seriously, we just went out for a peek at the ocean and there they were, hundreds of whales playing in the channel between Maui and Molokai. I guess that's why the hotel provides guests with a pair of binoculars in each room.
There are so many whales coming back. We need more reports showcasing the increasing population. It was very sad to see the body of a baby whale that washed ashore that weekend in February. It was the exception to the rule in this wonderfully growing whale population.
Check this out. I took this picture from our hotel room, looking straight down at the huge pool complex at the Westin.
There is a series of five pools, one with a Jacuzzi next to the bar for adults only and four for water lovers of all ages. There's a pool with a volleyball net in it and a pool with a basketball net and a pool the "toboggan" slide empties into. I call it a toboggan slide because if you lie on your back you'll find yourself climbing up the sides of the walls of the slide before you're launched into the pool. If I were just a little younger, like 10, I'd have been on that slide all day long!
If you do choose to make your vacation plans to Maui, and you stay in Kaanapali, the beauty of the area is you really don't have to go anywhere. Everything you need is very close by. There are shopping centers within two miles for "snacks" for your room. I mean like big snacks for the kids who want to eat at odd hours. And the adults. Each room has a little refrigerator and coffee maker. And you are less than 7 miles from Kapalua and the new Adventure Park. There's that zip line I'm going to get on, eventually. Its official opening was early March but I know Michael Patrick Shiels lovely wife Christine got on the zipline during the Wendy's Champions Skins tournament and loved it. It's a three hour adventure. I just didn't have enough time that weekend. Maybe during the LPGA's Kapalua Classic I'll sneak off and fly like a...Hawaiian Hawk over the Maui countryside safely
buckled in on the zipline.
But the true highlight for me was the media briefing after the Saturday round, when Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson came in for questions. Player was asked what his goal was now after having accomplished so much in his life. Player was in the clubhouse first and on the practice facility first and he walks with a jauntiness and bounce that belies his years. The answer isn't surprising since Player was considered a "weirdo" for being the Jack LaLaine of golf when no one in golf lifted a weight or stepped onto a treadmill.
Player says he is concerned about obesity in the populations around the world which many figure will kill more people than cancer does.
He is very direct, as you probably know after his statements about performance enhancing drugs being used in golf. Palmer didn't mince any words with friend Michael Patrick Shiels, imploring his wife Christine to get Shiels to good health before he suffers a stroke!
Back to the media briefing.
Jack Nicklaus was talking about his beautiful up and in out of a bunker, a truly beautifully executed shot that seemed absolutely effortless. In fact, Nicklaus was putting so well all he asked of Tom Watson, he said with a twinkle in his eye, was for Watson to get it close to the pin so he could sink the putts.
He did bring up moment I know you can relate to but probably never thought someone with the experience of a Jack Nicklaus would ever go through. The Lahaina train was making its trek along the coast with his whistle blowing right as Nicklaus was expected to putt. He stopped and then regrouped only for the train to continue it's noisy little journey.
Finally Nicklaus said, after mentally going through the "should I just go for it, or should I wait", constantly questioning what to do, he said he finally just went for it.
I couldn't help but grin at the thought of Jack Nicklaus doubting himself like that. I asked him about it and he said a younger Nicklaus would have waited for the train to finish its run before putting but the day before, during the Pro Am, he'd had the same experience and "it took just too darn long for it to pass" to wait it out again.
While I was talking to Nicklaus, he turned his head away from me, just listening to my voice like he recognized it from somewhere. And then he pointed, as though he figured it how he knew me. A couple of weeks before the Wendy’s Champions Tour Skins, Nicklaus participated in a telephone press conference and I asked a couple of questions.
My first comment was in response to Nicklaus saying he remembers playing what was then called the Kaanapali North course back in 1964 with Arnold Palmer as his teammate in the Canada Cup. They won.
| Audio Clip (.mp3) |
| Click here to listen to my conversation with Jack Nicklaus |
So back to the press briefing. After all the questions were asked, Nicklaus turned to Watson and said something to the effect, "Now what about our strategy for tomorrow." The two of just stayed on the dais, in the media room, and talked. We were really just mesmerized, trying to be unobtrusive, invisible while these two giants of the game talked quietly but obviously quite comfortable where they were and once finished, Nicklaus looked up and said, "You've just witnessed how we're going to handle tomorrow." All I could say to my friend Mary Engle, who came on the trip with her computer, was “Wow”. Wow, we got to be there.
By the by, you can still plan for your vacation on Maui this year. The LPGA's first Kapalua Classic is coming up on the LPGA Tour this October. After you watch the great LPGA players tee off, you can sneak off to the Kapalua Wilderness Adventure. There's the zip line, a three hour cruise above the beautiful Maui countryside, at speeds reaching 30 mph! Or you can kayak and go whale watching.
The bottom line at the 2008 Wendy’s Champions Tour Skins Game:
The duo of Fuzzy Zoeller and Peter Jacobsen won Sunday's Champions Skins Game in Maui, Hawaii, with a par at the first playoff hole.
The 2007 winning duo of Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson finished second after Nicklaus missed a 12-foot birdie putt at No. 18 in regulation. A make would have given the team its second straight Skins game victory.
The second-place finish was worth $270,000.
"It's a crazy game and things were just falling our way," Zoeller joked. "Guys were missing putts and we had an opportunity to make a couple to get us into the positive category and it just blossomed from there."
Gary Player and Loren Roberts captured three of their four skins Sunday and won $180,000 for their third-place finish.
The team of Arnold Palmer and Jay Haas failed to win any skins.
TADD’S LEARNING ADVENTURE
With the scoring average at the Honda Classic in Florida 69.19, it was a very tough cut to make. It showed for all of Hawaii’s PGA Tour professionals and Tadd Fujikawa, on a sponsor exemption, who didn’t make the cut along with Dean Wilson and Parker McLachlin. It was a great week for Ernie Els.
Ernie Els won the Honda with his 66.76 scoring average at the PGA National Resort and Spa - Champion Course in Palm Beach Gardens Florida.
| Audio Clip (.mp3) |
| Click here to listen to Els talk about how much he missed winning on the PGA Tour |
Besides the very nice trophy, Els walked home with $990,000 plus 25,000 FedEx Cup points. More importantly, he walked away with a feeling of accomplishment and confidence and a win he sorely needed on the PGA Tour!
Tadd Fujikawa was playing on a sponsor exemption. He was shooting in the mid 70’s. He didn’t make the cut but he’s learning with some of the PGA Tour players giving him tips he’d never find anywhere else.
Tadd Fujikawa, from Honolulu, and Michael Letzig, right, talk while waiting to putt on the 17th green during the Honda Classic golf tournament in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Friday, Feb. 29, 2008. (AP Photo/J. Pat Carter)
ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL PRESENTED BY MASTERCARD
It’s funny, writing this story for my column, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, on the day before my publishers deadline, Friday the 14TH of March. Woods won the event of course. I say that before the event is even over.
That’s become expected, Woods winning. Going into the Arnold Palmer Invitational, there is more talk of Tiger possibly accomplishing almost Greek god-like feats: winning every event he enters this year, winning the Grand Slam of Golf this calendar year, surpassing every record made by every golfer, dead or alive, this year.
But here it is. March 13th, Woods opened with a 70 and was T34 on the leaderboard at the end of the first round. Friday, he shaved two shots off the score, signing his card with a 68. Then T20, 7 shots back of the leader Vijay Singh.
Waikoloa’s Parker McLachlin was also in the field because of his excellent play at the beginning of the year, but he didn’t make the cut.
A part of me figures Tiger Woods is going to win, come from behind, like he always does. But there is always that little voice saying, “Hey, he’s just a guy and maybe he will simply do something completely unremarkable and come in the Top 10 somewhere”.
Then I’ll just wait for the flood gates to open from all of the people looking forward to the “downing of Tiger Woods” – all the copy with all the naysayers ready with their “told you so” doom and gloomer articles and blogs and golf clubhouse chit chat. “See, he isn’t that good. He only plays 16 events all year. He should’ve won”.
I’m sure that’s why Woods always says things that seem so totally canned. If he says something too off the cuff, too carefree, someone, somewhere will find something bad to say, to bring down the “boy too good to be true”.
Whatever.
TIGER STATS
With his win at the Accenture, Tiger improves his record in this event to 31-6 in his ninth year playing it. He is 20-4 against the International players and 11-2 against fellow Americans. With his victory at the WGC Accenture, Woods has won 23 or his last 26 matches.
8-and-7 score is the most lopsided championship victory in the history of the Accenture Match Play Championships. Before this, the biggest victory was in 2005, when David Toms defeated Chris DiMarco, 6 and 5. In 2000, Darren Clarke topped Tiger Woods, 4 and 3.
| Audio Clip (.mp3) |
| Click here to listen to Stewart Cink reflect on the WGC Accenture week |
The opening hole of Tiger Woods' quarterfinals match against K.J. Choi is the last time that Woods trailed in a match. Woods won the second hole of that match and never trailed again versus Choi, Stenson or Cink.
Stewart Cink's runner-up finish at the Accenture Match Play Championship is his best career finish at this event and his highest finish since losing in a playoff at the 2006 World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational. It is Cink's second top-3 finish of the year. Cink finished tied for third at the Buick Invitational.
| Audio Clip (.mp3) |
| Click here to listen to Tiger Woods take on the success of the World Golf Championships |
Woods earned 4,725 FedExCup points to move to the top of the standings for the first time in 2008. He has collected 9,225 total points, 894 points ahead of Phil Mickelson.
He's now won 15 World Golf Championships events out of 26 starts (missed the 2001 edition of the Accenture Match Play Championship).
This is his fourth consecutive victory on the PGA Tour dating back to the 2007 BMW Championship. Dating back to the 2007 World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, has won six of last seven starts. Out of 117 holes he played that week, Woods made 47 birdies and two eagles.
Woods recorded his 15th official World Golf Championships victory in 26 starts and has now earned $19,882,000 in official money at World Golf Championships events. He also has 24 top-10 finishes in the 26 starts. He's won the last three World Golf Championships events and has possession of all three World Golf Championships trophies. His 8-and-7 victory over Stewart Cink in the 36-hole championship match becomes the largest margin of victory in a championship match.
Woods has won 15 World Golf Championship tournaments. They are the Bridgestone Invitational in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2006 and 2007; the Accenture Match Play Championship in 2003, 2004 and 2008; and the CA Championship in 1999, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2007. Woods also won the 2000 World Cup, an unofficial money WGC event, with David Duval in 2000.
With his first Tour victory in Arizona, Woods has now won in 15 different states. He also becomes first two-time winner of the season and collects at least two wins in a season for the 11th time in his 13-year PGA Tour career. Woods now has won 10 different PGA TOUR events three or more times.
Woods now has two top-10 finishes for the season. He has 146 career top-10s in 218 professional starts and has finished in the top-25 192 times Woods surpasses the $78 million mark in career PGA Tour Official Money with $78,865,376. And with a paycheck of $1,350,000 on Sunday he improves his season earnings to $2,286,000.
And that doesn’t count his endorsement income. Have you seen his new Tiger Gatorade?
Yea, it’s on store shelves. Woods wrote in his last column about how excited he was to see it on the shelves the last time he went shopping. Tiger and grocery shopping.
He also wants something done about slow play on the Tour. While the world was talking about the new cut and the compromise agreed to between the players and the Tour, and the ink had barely dried on all the paper with article about the new cut, Woods was on to asking the Tour to do something about slow play. Ever get the feeling Tim Finchem isn’t really in charge?
LPGA
BERNHARD LANGER AND CHAMPIONS TOUR/TOSHIBA CLASSIC
It was the latest playoff at the Newport Beach Country Club, but it only went 7 holes. Others have gone 9.
Defending Champion Jay Haas and Bernhard Langer. It ended with a 2-putt birdie on the par 5 18th hole. Langer, who was a guest on “The Golf Club” radio show from the MasterCard Championship at Hualalai this year, turned 50 in August last year and plans to play 18 events this season. So far he has won two of his 9 Champion Tour starts and finished in the top 10 in five. Why not go for broke while in such good form? “I don’t do more than two or three in a row”, said Langer to GolfWorld, “We still have three kids at home. I’m a father and a husband, and I need to fulfill those roles. There needs to be balance in my life.” Words we should all live by.
DALY DOWN
John Daly was not only DQ’d from the Arnold Palmer Invitational brought to you by MasterCard, he was fired by his coach, Butch Harmon, after only 4 months together.
Harmon: “My whole goal for him was he’s got to show me golf if the most important thing in his life. And the most important thing in his life is getting drunk.”
Dalys behavior at the PODS Championship was the last straw. Daly was drinking in the Hooters hospitality tent when play was suspended for two and a half hours. When play resumed, Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach John Gruden was caddying for Daly in place of his regular caddy, Peter Van Der Reit. Daly had rounds of 78 and 80 and didn’t make the cut but he made it to the Hooters Owl’s Nest, where he continued to drink, sign autographs and make a rude gesture with his hand to a Tampa Tribune photographer.
When Harmon heard about the PODS behavior, and told Daly their short lived working relationship was over.
Harmon: “He would work hard and get better, but when things don’t go right, it’s back to the alcohol stuff. I love this kid. He’s a tremendous talent. But if he’s not going to give 100 percent effort, it’s a waste of time. Jon Gruden caddying, I thought was ridiculous. I thought he made a circus of the whole event.”
And through it all, Daly had the largest gallery following him and he didn’t turn anyone down when they asked for an autograph.
PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem says, “on the one hand, we have certain conduct that we have to maintain, and we’ll continue to do that. We’ve worked hard with John in the past, and we’ll continue to be available to work with him in the future regarding his issues.”
REVEALING SECRETS
Now for all the lovely people who have asked me where I get my look for television when they see me on KHNL News 8 doing the traffic reports in the morning and the afternoon on the KHNL News at 5 PM and in the morning from 5 AM to 8 AM.
I count on my mineral make up from Gigi at Permanent Elegance. I can’t tell you what a difference it has made in my morning after learning how to use the cosmetics you’ll find with Gigi at Permanent Elegance. It’s great for all skins types and tones and she’s got this great “take out of the redness” bonus in her foundation. It protects against both kinds of damage the sun does, burning and aging. Her number is 808 722 7981.
Now for something I’ve just discovered and it has made a tremendous difference in my overall look, with and without makeup.
It’s the Galvanic Spa.
Instead of going in to a dermatologist for expensive treatments or having someone inject you with all kinds of the latest and greatest fillers and muscle deactivators, get the take the Galvanic Spa home with you.
I was offered a free facial by Mimi. I was skeptical because I expected them to get me on the table and start some intense sell about how my skin needs this salve and that cream…or else!
Do this for yourself. Get a free facial at 808 227 8785. And this is for the guys too, okay. You can even use it on your body to help with stretch marks. It’s not a new technology, it’s just made small enough for you to take home instead of having to go to the spas for expensive treatments.
Hope you’ll join us in the clubhouse, “The Golf Club” radio show. As I say at the end of the show, “thank you for your Mana and may you hit the sweet spot every time”.
Aloha,
Danielle
Host and Producer of “The Golf Club” radio show.
Saturday 7 AM KUMU AM 1500, KONI FM 104.7, KTOH FM 99.9 and KPUA AM 650.
P.S. Thank you to Rick Gray, the Golf Club Executive Producer, who also handled all of the on-site technical work and photography. I wouldn't have these great Wendy's Champions Tour Skins game and many other photos without his help.
