It’s been nearly a dozen years since diminutive Tadd Fujikawa fired a second-round 66 at the 2007 Sony Open in Hawaii. Fujikawa, who turned 16 four days earlier, became the youngest golfer to make a PGA Tour cut in 50 years.
Which brings us to Peter Jung, a towering 16-year-old Maryknoll sophomore who will play in the 2019 Sony Open after winning the amateur qualifier Monday.
At 5 feet 11, some 8 inches taller than Fujikawa, Jung is hoping to live up to the little guy’s legacy. He also hopes to get his driver’s license before the Sony tees off Jan. 10 at Waialae Country Club.
After powering an even-par 72 through the tough gusts Monday at Waialae, he has the talent. Jung was a bogey-free 2 under over the final 15 windy holes.
It was just enough to edge Tyler Ota, who played in this year’s Sony Open after earning the Friends of Hawaii Charities’ amateur exemption. Ota birdied the last two holes to win this qualifier last November, but could only birdie the final hole Monday — with a miraculous chip from the edge of the cart path — and shot 73.
No one else in the field of 12 shot better than 76. The golfers qualified for a shot at Sony by making the Gov. John A. Burns Challenge Cup amateur team. They were picked using a point system at a series of amateur events.
This year’s Burns Cup — a Ryder Cup-style tournament matching 12 Hawaii pros against these 12 amateurs — will be Nov. 26 and 27 at Mid-Pacific Country Club.
Jung can use it as a warmup for his PGA Tour debut, where he hopes to enjoy himself immensely and bring back memories of Fujikawa’s sweet run as a 16-year-old.
Jung hadn’t even taken up golf then, but he has been thinking about Sony from the moment his father first had him pick up a club eight years ago.
“Since I started golfing, that was the tournament I wanted to win,” Jung said. “I’m going to try and play the same as today, but it will be a little different. I have to stick with what I normally do. That got me here, so I don’t want to change. Well, maybe practice a little more.”
He has won a lot lately, capturing the Kaanapali Hawaii State Junior Golf Association Match Play Championship this summer and going low on the final day to win the Turtle Bay Open — his first open title — three weeks ago. He also represented Hawaii in the Hogan Cup.
Tuesday, after bogeying two of the first three holes, he stuck two short approach shots inside 3 feet on the 10th and 18th for easy birdies. He traced his margin of victory to a “nervy chip shot” over the bunker at the 16th that gave him an easy par.
“I was just calm,” Jung says. “It was fun. I didn’t think too much, just played my game. My coach (caddie Jeff Ferry) helped me a lot with that. We talked a lot, and not golf-related. And we laughed a lot.”
He would love a repeat in January. After seeing Fujikawa, followed by teens Alex Ching (2008), Lorens Chan (2009), John Oda (2012), Kyle Suppa (2015) and Shawn Lu (2016) at Sony, he knows “anything is possible.”
Chad Umetsu and Davis Lee tied for third at 76.
Even par is the lowest score at the past four amateur qualifiers. Suppa shot the lowest round in the 21-year history of the event. The Waialae member, now a junior on the USC team, shot 66 four years ago and made the cut two months later at the 2015 Sony Open.
For now Jung, grateful to the late Peter Wong for letting him practice at Waialae, is keeping his goals simple.
“I want to be able to say it was a fun experience, I liked it a lot and learned a lot,” he grinned. “It’s got to be awesome, right?”
