2 sorely missed at cup

Hawaii’s 45th annual Gov. John A. Burns Challenge Cup earlier this week came complete with wonderful golf, atmosphere, weather and Lanikai location.

Again.

Only this was different. For the first time in seemingly forever, Jim Burns and Lance Suzuki were not there.

The son of Hawaii’s second governor — who helped found the Ryder Cup-style competition between Hawaii’s best pros and amateurs — died in March. Jim Burns was honored with the Aloha Section PGA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014.

His widow, Emme Tomimbang, came to Sunday’s banquet with pictures of golf tournaments past, including the Canada Cup that John Burns brought to Maui — along with Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus — some 50 years ago.

Suzuki died suddenly in July. The Hawaii Golf Hall of Famer collected a mind-boggling 43 tournament titles, winning at least once for 23 consecutive years after his All-America career at Brigham Young.

“I think the person who played the most on the pro team was Lance,” said Guy Yamamoto, an amateur captain. “So for it to be the first year we don’t have both of those guys around … it was kinda sad.”

That is not an adjective that crops up often at the Burns Cup. Its atmosphere is more “reunion” than “ram it down their throats.” Many of the pros started on the amateur team.

Both 12-man teams are chosen based on play in a series of major events during the year. The selection system basically goes back to when the Cup began in 1973 and has been critical to its success.

John Burns and PGA pro Ron Castillo — another Hall of Famer who captains the pros — were golfing buddies. Castillo heard about the Texas Cup, which had a similar pro-vs.-amateur format. Other states picked it up and began calling it Governor’s Cup, so Castillo asked his friend for help to start it here.

The first year was at Hawaii Kai, where Castillo was the pro. Both teams wore aloha print golf shirts donated by Keone Sportswear. University of Hawaii coach Red Rocha drove the drink cart.

“Every player got a framed letter from the governor,” Castillo recalled. “It was one of the last official things he did before he died.”

The most memorable element of the Cup here is that the 12 amateurs also qualify to compete for an exemption into the Sony Open in Hawaii. This year it happens Monday at Waialae Country Club. That exemption goes back to the days it was the United Airlines Hawaiian Open.

Castillo believes that precious exemption came about because of the objective system used to pick team members.

“The key was, we had a system to find the best 12 amateurs,” he said. “We had credibility. This is not a political exemption.

“Jim Burns and Al Souza fight for that spot every year. Jim Burns convinced them this would not be a political exemption. It would be legitimately the best player.”

The credibility part played out particularly well in 1981, when Donald Hurter made it to the weekend at the Hawaiian Open. In 2007, 16-year-old Tadd Fujikawa became the youngest in 50 years to make a PGA Tour cut and the golf world hung on his every fist pump. Kyle Suppa, also 16, made the cut on the number at his home course in the 2015 Sony Open.

“I would love to play it, it would be awesome,” says Maui’s Alex Chiarella, who helped the pros win their third straight Cup Tuesday on a visit home, after coming up three shots short at Q-School’s Second Stage. “It’s a great opportunity for those guys, their best opportunity to get into a PGA Tour event. A lot of good players have qualified and played in the Sony Open — Alex Ching, John Oda, Lorens Chan all got their opportunities. I wish I’d had mine.”

Those players helped the amateurs win eight straight Challenge Cups from 2007 to ’14. The pros worked their way back to a 26-18 advantage (there was a tie in 1983) this year, taking a five-point lead the first day and winning 15.5 to 8.5 over an amateur team with eight Cup rookies.

The Gov. John A. Burns Challenge Cup has always run in cycles, from the moment Allan Yamamoto won the final match in 1973 to give the amateurs an inaugural victory. The pros would win 11 of the next 13 and it has lurched back and forth since.

The pros have little to play for, but you wouldn’t know it by watching.

“We tell the amateurs that without the pros there is no Challenge Cup,” says Yamamoto, yet another Hall of Famer. “It’s a lot of fun, but you’ve still got to be appreciative of their participation.

“A lot of the pros were amateurs, so they know the drill. They played for a Sony Open spot. I think it’s part of their giving back. They had their opportunity to try and qualify, so now they are facilitating that by coming to play.”

Besides, it is a bunch of fun at Mid-Pacific Country Club, Jim Burns’ home course. If it was good enough for Lance Suzuki, it is good enough for them.

“They play for nothing except for the game,” Castillo says of the pros. “You’ve got to give them credit. They don’t play for anything and lots of times it costs them a lot of money to come here. It’s the spirit of the game.”