Starting Wednesday, Kyosuke Hara and Kyle Suppa will be focused on trying to help their respective teams capture the state golf championship.
On Sunday, the Moanalua and Punahou seniors teamed up to win the 65th Francis I’i Brown Four Ball Tournament at Ala Wai Golf Course.
Hara birdied four of his first five holes and Suppa had four on the back nine in an abbreviated championship match to claim their second title in the event in the past three years.
The final was scheduled for 36 holes, but was conceded after 18 holes with Hara and Suppa leading Chad Umetsu 6 up.
Umetsu and Tyler Isono advanced to the final with a win on Saturday, but Isono, an assistant coach with the Mid-Pacific girls team, had a flight to Kauai on Sunday morning in advance of today’s opening round of the David S. Ishii Foundation/HHSAA Girls Golf Championship and Umetsu played 18 holes on his own before conceding the match.
Hara and Suppa begin play in the two-day boys tournament on Wednesday at Wailua Golf Course, making the transition from playing partners to friendly rivals.
Suppa, a USC signee, helped Punahou fend off Moanalua for the team title each of the past three years and Hara is hoping to help Na Menehune break through this week.
“We all know each other, we’re all friends,” said Hara, who will play his college golf at Oregon State. “Kyle’s a really close friend, so it’s interesting to see how it’s going to turn out, but I’m excited to play one last state tournament with my team. … I think it’s going to be a pretty friendly, exciting battle and I’m looking forward to it.
“When we play practice rounds on the weekend just for fun we always have friendly battles anyway. So it’s nothing new. It’s just fun to do it at a tournament.”
Both had individual success over the past year with Hara’s win at the Turtle Bay Amateur last October and Suppa’s victory in the state amateur stroke play championship in March among their highlights.
They teamed up to reach the final of the Francis Brown Four Ball for the third time in the past four years by edging Hara’s Moanalua teammates and defending champions Shawn Lu and Jun Ho Won in the semifinals on Saturday and paired Sunday’s win with their 2014 title.
“It’s always fun to play as a team and get to work together,” Suppa said. “It’s different than most tournaments where you’re just competing against the other person. Rooting for them, it’s different, it’s a lot of fun.”
Hara said he was tinkering with his swing since the Mid-Pacific Open last month and put together a hot round on Sunday with seven birdies and one bogey on his scorecard.
“I was figuring out some new things at Mid-Pac and trying to change up my swing a bit and tweak a few things here and there and looks like I was finally able to perform, so hopefully I can continue doing it,” Hara said.
Suppa had pars on his first six holes and made the turn at 1 over and played the back nine at even par.
“I wasn’t really hitting the ball that great the whole round,” Suppa said. “But the back nine I made some good birdies to help the team.”
Umetsu held his own early on, covering Hara’s birdies on Nos. 1 and 5 and getting to 2 down with a birdie on the par-3 eighth hole. But Hara and Suppa combined to birdie six of the last nine holes.