Da champs

After living through a few heartbreaking near-misses, to say nothing of two wins in the past five years by their female counterparts, Hawaii’s boys came home from Canada last week with the first-place trophy from the 42nd Junior America’s Cup.

It was a sweet sequel for the local boys, whose last Cup victory also came in Vancouver — 18 years ago.

The opening round was a grind. Hawaii was 11-over par after the first day at Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club, and stunned to find itself second.

"We thought we played fair, if not badly, and we saw we were in second place," recalled captain Rick Castillo, Hawaii State Junior Golf Association Vice President and King Kamehameha’s Director of Golf. "Kyosuke (Hara) said, ‘All right, all right, we got this.’ He wasn’t talking smack, he just knew it was obtainable — if that’s our worst day we can win this thing."

Hara’s game got the Moanalua High School junior a tie for 10th individually. Menehune teammate Shawn Lu, also a junior, went him nine better. Lu fired a 2-under-par 70 in the final round to overtake San Jose’s Justin Suh and earn medalist honors by three shots.

Lu was the only golfer to finish the three-day event under par, at 215. His three back-nine birdies jump-started a late surge that stretched Hawaii’s one-shot second-round advantage into a five-stroke victory (675 to 680) over host British Columbia 1.

Southern California (682) was third in an 18-team tournament that featured some of the finest juniors from the Western U.S., Canada and Mexico.

"Our only thought was to beat the guys we were playing with that day (British Columbia 1 and Southern California)," Lu said. "We knew that if we beat our playing partners that day, our team would prevail.

"As an individual, my thought going into the week was to just take everything step by step, hole by hole, don’t think about the future too much, and don’t linger on the past. Focus on the present."

Lu is the first Hawaii golfer to take medalist honors since Alex Ching in 2007.

"Shawn shooting those scores … that’s some playing," said Castillo. "He looks like a Chinese Jim Furyk, has a really goofy swing and you don’t dare change it. And, he can make putts."

Kamehameha senior Spencer Dunaway stayed close to par the first two days while Kyle Suppa, the reigning state stroke play champ, struggled through a very un-Suppa-like start. Then the Punahou junior gritted out a 78 the final day to help clinch the Cup. His first counting score included an approach shot to 3 feet after he hit a tree and a hole-out for birdie from the bunker.

Castillo played on the Hawaii team that beat Arizona by one to win the third America’s Cup in 1976 with Tommy Hines, Gordon Krah and Kalua Makalena.

Krah, Michael Murata, and Brandan Kop and Donald Hurter — both in the Hawaii Golf Hall of Fame now — won it again two years later.

It took 18 years — and a team of Shane Hoshino, Parker McLachlin, Jim Seki and Chen Ponce — to win the next Cup, and 18 more to get it again.

It also took a close-knit group of guys who won the America’s Cup housing lottery when they scored a stay in the five-bedroom home of Shaughnessy’s former president.

"These boys grew up playing in Hawaii as little kids," Castillo said. Now they are 16 and 17 and close friends.

"The boys were pretty spoiled with that house and it only added to the camaraderie and cohesiveness of the team. And, they are just good kids. They were very meticulous about cleaning up their rooms so they looked as good, if not better, as when they got there."

Lu says he and his teammates all practice seven days a week, four-to-six hours a day. The investment paid off big-time in their short time in Canada.

He says the trip will be "forever cherished" for their hosts’ graciousness, "sunny weather with cool tradewinds," that five-shot victory and more.

"I felt that the reason that we were successful was because our team chemistry was great," Lu says. "We started out the tournament as brothers and we finished it even closer."