A rare and extremely weird wind storm at Kapalua blew back the beginning of the 2013 Aloha Season. The golf year will end in December with the Hawaii State Open back at Mauna Lani and Michelle Wie again revisiting her childhood as title sponsor of junior golf’s Tournament of Champions.
The start of this year’s Hyundai Tournament of Champions was delayed until Monday at Kapalua’s Plantation Course. Hyundai vice president Steve Shannon still sounded optimistic about renewing sponsorship, which ended this year. He called the wind blasts that made for unplayable conditions "a 20-year or 30-year kind of a storm."
He was right. Since the TOC moved to Kapalua in 1999, the worst that had happened before was a starting time tweak to avoid rain.
This year’s Sony Open in Hawaii had brilliant weather a week later as the PGA Tour’s first full-field event. That description changes, in theory, next year when the tour has an October "start."
The weather got even better for last week’s Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai. It was the 40th senior event in Hawaii, dating to 1987. Mitsubishi signed an extension in 2011 that keeps the event here at least through 2015. It has been played at Hualalai 17 years, third-longest at one club in Champions Tour history.
Next up for the pro tours in Hawaii is the LPGA Lotte Championship, April 17-20 at Ko Olina. The seniors will be back in September for the Pacific Links Hawaii Championship at Kapolei. Ai Miyazato and Willie Wood won the inaugural tournaments last year.
Locally, Hawaii and UH Hilo host tournaments next month and again in the fall. State high school champion John Oda gets another shot at the Hawaii Pearl Open in two weeks. Nick Mason will defend titles at the Hilo Invitational and 55th Mid Pacific Open over the next three months. Matt Ma defends at the 105th Manoa Cup, and many more amateur events.
Both David S. Ishii Foundation state high school championships are at Kaanapali. Waialae Country Club will again host a U.S. Women’s Open sectional.
The home highlight of the summer is the Boys Junior America’s Cup at Wailea (July 28-Aug. 1). Last year at Wailea, Hawaii captured its second Girls Junior America’s Cup in three years. Eimi Koga, Mariel Galdiano, Ciera Min and Rose Huang won by one shot over Southern California, with all four girls finishing in the top 16.
