Not too long ago, Eimi Koga and Dean Wilson might not have been expected to even participate in the Acura Hawaii Pro-Junior Skills Challenge.

Given the opportunity, the local partners ended up winning the event, one of the Sony Open in Hawaii’s pretournament highlights.

A harrowing on-course injury last October was expected to keep Koga off the course for six months. The Moanalua senior fully recovered in a month and provided most of the team’s scoring with two spectacular wedge shots in Tuesday’s exhibition at Waialae Country Club’s 18th green.

She teamed with Wilson, a Castle graduate, in the event pairing local junior golfers with professional players. Wilson was added to the Sony Open field on Monday, thanks to a sponsor’s exemption, and filled in on Tuesday with three of the pros scheduled to participate still on Maui for the final round of the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

"I scored one of the 12 points," Wilson said, referring to his tap-in putt after their win was secured. "She carried us the whole way."

Wilson dubbed the partnership "Team Eimi" after Koga won the first two skills, a shot over a greenside bunker and another out of the sand. Her first shot hit the pin and the second rolled to within a foot of the cup.

Koga didn’t have much warm up, heading to Waialae after finishing classes at Moanalua. Actually, she hadn’t played much after being struck in the head by a ball during a practice round for the Asia-Pacific Junior Cup at the Waikoloa Kings’ Course on the Big Island on Halloween.

Koga, 17, was flown back to Honolulu and had surgery to relieve pressure around her brain. She was told it would be six months before she could play again and would have to wait a year to return to school. But she was back to normal a month later.

"It made me realize a lot of things, like the people who cared about me and how much golf was a part of me," Koga said.

She returned to the course in mid-December to play in the Michelle Wie/Hawaii State Junior Golf Association Tournament of Champions and tied for second in the girls 15-18 division.

"Since I didn’t practice in about a month, I just wanted to go back into golf and go back into tournament mode. It doesn’t matter if I win or shoot bad, I just wanted to do my best," said Koga, who signed to play college golf at Washington.

Her game was pretty sharp on Tuesday, making for a pretty relaxed afternoon for Wilson. The phone call he received Monday morning provided a measure of relief as well.

He was scheduled to play in the Monday qualifier at Turtle Bay Resort, but didn’t have to contend with the strong winds or the field fighting for the four available spots.

"You have to go battle 100 players for four spots and that’s kind of a crap shoot," Wilson said. "You have to shoot really low and it’s tough to be one of the four low guys. Not having to do that and come out here and play a practice round and relax, it’s a lot easier and a lot better."

Colby Takushi, a Pearl City senior, played with Davis Love III and earned his team five points when his chip from the fairway two-hopped into the cup.

"I just wanted to get it close," said Takushi, whose rainbow-dotted pants challenged John Daly’s stripes for the afternoon’s most colorful look.

The four teams chasing Koga and Wilson — Takushi-Love III, Allisen Corpuz (Punahou)-Fred Funk, Mariel Galdiano (Punahou)-Daly and Skye Inakoshi (Mid-Pacific)-Jerry Kelly — had a chance to make up the gap in the final event, a putt worth a point per foot. But none of the attempts, ranging from 12 to 21 feet, found the cup.

Wilson, Funk and Love filled in for Matt Kuchar, Mark Wilson and Johnson Wagner, who played on Maui on Tuesday before heading to Oahu.