It was a memorable year for the Hawaii State Golf Association’s new trio of neighbor island amateur championships. Maybe not for reasons you would guess, but definitely memorable.

Hurricane Lane canceled the third annual Kauai Amateur.

Michael Grabowski, from Kwajalein Atoll, won Maui’s second annual championship.

In between, the Big Island Amateur included golfers not from the island of Hawaii for the first time in its 95-year history.

That one alteration was most memorable of all.

The Big Island Amateur has a legendary history, going back to 1924. It never missed a year or invited any amateur who didn’t “reside year round on Hawaii’s Big Island.” Residency was verified.

“The Big Island Amateur was the most prestigious tournament for Big Island amateurs to win since there were many amateurs competing in it,” says Hilo Muni pro Lance Taketa, who took the title in 1980 and ’81. “There was only one flight — the championship flight. At that time, golfers could not afford to travel much to compete in the bigger tournaments on Oahu. So this was it.”

But this year, with tournament directors seeking relief and the HSGA extremely interested in having major amateur championships on all the major islands, a compromise was reached.

“We basically merged,” says HSGA executive director Paul Ogawa. “We wanted to do a tournament there and agreed to also identify the best Big Island resident. Ideally it will make it a bigger tournament.”

It was opened to all amateurs, with both overall and Big Island champion designations. Many Hawaii island golfers took it hard, particularly the older ones. But, ultimately, they were happy to see the event live on.

Younger guys, like 2007 state high school champion Sean Maekawa from Honokaa, had no regrets.

“I think it’s great that the rest of the state has an opportunity to compete in this event,” says Maekawa, the 2008 Big Island Amateur champ. “It helps to ensure that there are enough golfers for the event to continue from year to year. I also feel that it raises the level of competition.

“Although the champion may not be a Big Island resident, it will attract top players from the rest of the state and make for a highly competitive event for many more years to come.”

It has been highly competitive, and flooded with local flavor, for 95 years.

And any conversation about this tournament begins with Merrill “Budge” Carlsmith.

He captured the fifth Big Island Amateur in 1928, then won it 12 more times in the next 20 years. He was so dominant — and generous — he donated the perpetual trophy in 1936, in the midst of winning it four consecutive years.

Born in Hilo and educated at Stanford, Carlsmith and his brother were partners in the their father’s law firm — Carlsmith Ball LLP. The 86-year-old company used to sponsor the state high school tennis championship.

Merrill won the last of his 16 Big Island championships in 1965, a year after Steve Veriato — who would play on the Champions Tour — took the title. “Budge” also dominated the Hawaii State Senior Amateur.

In 1962, he became the first Hawaii guy to capture a USGA individual championship, winning the U.S. Senior Amateur.

Jackie Pung was the first from Hawaii to claim a national title, taking the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 1952. Carlsmith was her attorney. The teams of Jack Chun, George Nahale and Ed Nakagaki, and David Bettencourt, Hung Soo Ahn and Owen Douglass Jr., won U.S. Amateur Public Links team titles (Harding Cup) in 1957 and ’61.

Carlsmith then became the first to successfully defend a USGA senior championship, in 1963. In 1989, he was part of the second class inducted into the Hawaii Golf Hall of Fame.

He wasn’t the only one to rule over the Big Island Amateur. Delbert Araujo won it eight times across 35 years. Guys named Carvalho (Gilbert, Donald, Adam) took seven titles.

Waiakea’s golf coach (Lee Hardy), a Hilo dentist (Chris Igawa) and a Mauna Kea general manager (Charlie Park) each have a championship. In the last 45 years, only Don Kouchi, Taketa, Mark Madson, Gabriel Wilson and Dalen Yamauchi managed to win it in consecutive years. Ciera Min is the only woman to win, five years ago.

Any amateur with an established handicap could always play, no matter how young or old. For years, it was a 54-hole event with 27 played each day. It expanded to three days in 1999, when the tournament fee was $125 to play 54 holes at Waikoloa Kings’ and Beach courses.

Waikoloa was a gleam in someone’s eye when the Big Island Am started. For its first 50 years or so it was played at the old Hilo Country Club, a nine-hole layout in Kaumana — just above Hilo — where folks like Babe Ruth and Gene Sarazen showed up. The tournament then moved to Volcano, where Taketa won in 1980 and ’81.

“I came close before but never could win it,” recalls Taketa, who first played the tournament in 1971. “It was a very competitive tournament and golfers used to practice hard. I played with former champions like Allan Texeira, Delbert Araujo, Billy Kaipo and Adam Carvalho and thought it would be awesome if one day I could win this event.

“If you were a good amateur on the island, you probably were a competitor in this event. For the younger guys, it was a learning experience and also a lot of fun to be able to play against the older guys. I sure hope that this tournament will continue on and possibly grow to what it was in the past.”

Dennis Rose brought the event to Waikoloa Beach Resort in 1992. It has been at Mauna Lani most of this millennium.

That’s where Kamehameha Schools Hawaii junior Pono Yanagi earned his way onto the perpetual trophy in September. Mid-Pacific Institute sophomore Davis Lee went wire-to-wire to become the first overall champ from off the island, beating Yanagi by five.

Their generation needs to help take the Big Island Amateur into its second century.

“Thankfully, the local amateurs have been able to support the event over the years and most look forward to it,” says Waikoloa pro Kevin Ginoza, who played his first Big Island Am when he was at University of Hawaii Hilo in the ’90s. “I think when you look at the names on the trophy, we in the golf industry have a responsibility to uphold the event and keep it going. We need more amateur golfers to keep our industry going strong in the coming years.”