Hawaii golf and golfers. Now that's a subject that holds a lot of interest for me. I don't play much any more now that I'm old, fat, slow and my days as a flippy wristed flat-belly are long past
. But as a teenager I was a low single digit handicap links bum, and in the early 70's had a part time job as a night waterman at Waialae C.C. (site of the PGA Tour's Hawaiian Open each winter), and spent most of what I earned playing in the weekly "automatic one-down press" money games at Ala Wai, the Honolulu muni just mauka of Waikiki
.
Hawaii does produce a fair amount of good players, but unfortunately many talents wither on the vine because of the distance and expense involved in finding quality competition. If they do find success, a move to the mainland is really mandatory. Most touring professionals in individual sports end up in either Florida or Texas because they're centrally located to most tournament sites, the weather's good, they have good transportation facilities, and they have no state income tax. As noted, Hawaii's juniors, particularly the females, seem to be making the biggest national impact at this point but how they progress only time will tell.
Michelle Wie's play - and career choices - since last August don't bode well though. She's created a significant amount of ill will among members of the LPGA with her insistence on playing in men's tournaments while projecting an air of condescension toward women pros.
While perhaps unseemly, she used to at least back up her smack with serious game. Now though, her beautiful natural swing is a mess, her biggest asset (length) is negated because she can't keep her tee shots in the same time zone, she's more apt to post 86 than 66, making cuts let alone contending is increasingly problematic, and her wrist injury - while I'm sure very real - seems to suspiciously flare up when she happens to be 8-over after 12. I certainly don't want to say the girl's over-the-hill at 17; IMHO she's the biggest female phenom since Nancy Lopez, and maybe the most talented since Mickey Wright . . . but her ship need to be righted and soon. Playing men's events with the goal of merely making cuts is whack. If she doesn't have what it takes to WIN against men (and she doesn't), she ought to concentrate on dominating the Sorenstams, Creamers, and Ochoas of the world. I don't get the concept of turning pro THEN going to college full time either. Stanford is a great school and a Cardinal degree makes great wallpaper, but somehow I don't think Nike, SONY, and Omega are too thrilled with the idea of paying someone north of $20 million per just to park their butt in an English Comp class. Seems like if you're willing to take their cash, they deserve your undivided attention
.
Tad Fujikawa's choices make even less sense. Being the youngest player to make the cut in a Tour event and the youngest US Open qualifier in 80 years is one thing, but turning pro at 16 without the big endorsement bucks can only end badly. It's too late now, but somebody should've taken him aside and asked him if he
really wants to be known as the next
Ty Tryon because he will be. He played this week at the Reno-Tahoe Open on a sponsor's exemption, and to the surprise of absolutely no one promptly opened with a 78-71 and missed the cut. In a pre tourney press conference he stated that he just wanted to have fun in golf and wasn't concerned with the money. Er, Tad, money is kind of the whole point of
professional sports.
Anyway, enough kibitzing. Here are a few more Aloha State notables:
Kauai's
David Ishii. 14 Japan Tour wins & the 1990 Hawaiian Open. Captained the 1977 Univ. of Houston golf team that won an NCAA championship (Fred Couples and CBS Sports' Jim Nantz were teammates)
The late
Ted Makalena. 1966 Hawaiian Open winner.
Lance Suzuki was a 1973 1st team All-American at BYU, briefly played the PGA Tour and has won more than 35 local and sectional professional tournaments.
And finally for a little local flavor, Hilo attorney
Merrill Carlsmith became the first of only 2 men to win the U.S. Senior Amateur in back-to-back years with his victories in 1962 & '63.
aloha,
Gene
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Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati
