Moanalua, Kaiser top OIA golf

For the Moanalua boys, Kyosuke Hara’s individual victory in Tuesday’s OIA golf championship was a bonus collected in the midst of a relentless march to their ninth consecutive team title.

In stark contrast, freshman Malia Nam’s surge to medalist honors helped lift Kaiser to its first girls team title since 1999. The Cougars went into the final round at Turtle Bay’s Fazio Course a shot ahead of Mililani and came out with a nine-stroke victory over Kalani.

Nam trailed two-time defending champion Mari Nishiura by two heading into the final round. The freshman led Kaiser’s final-day charge with an even-par 72 in howling wind.

That was four shots better than any other girl and left her at 1-over 145 — nine better than Nishiura, 11 ahead of Kalani’s Miki Manta (79) and 14 up on sophomore teammate Keila Baladad (78).

Mika Walker, the Cougars’ lone senior, also cracked the top 10 with an eighth-place finish few would have seen coming a few years back.

"She’s come so far in the last few years," Kaiser coach Wade Nakamura said of Walker. "She went from not even playing and shooting about 100 her freshman year, to breaking 80 by her junior year and now she is going to play at HPU on scholarship."

Hara also shot 72 on his sixth straight day of windblown wildness on the golf course, ending his marathon week with a tournament total of 5-under 139. He and junior teammate Shawn Lu finished 5-6 among the amateurs Sunday at the Mid-Pacific Open.

Lu, this year’s State Amateur Stroke Play champion, took third Tuesday behind Kailua’s Caleb Keohokapu, who shot 73 to finish two back of Hara.

Moanalua, which doesn’t have a senior on its roster, had five players in the top seven. That included all four juniors, with Desmond Mello (73—150) fourth and Nickolas Nelson (77—151) fifth.

But it was Keohokapu who provided the in-your-face inspiration Hara needed to become Moanalua’s fourth consecutive medalist.

Hara had four birdies — chipping in twice — and four bogeys to hold off Keohokapu, the only other golfer to finish in red numbers at 73—141.

"Today it was more like I was playing match play against Caleb," said Hara, who sank a 12-foot par putt on the final hole. "He fought hard. At one point we were tied. It was a battle. I enjoyed it."

Nam, who missed the cut at the Mid-Pacific Open last week, qualified for the U.S. Women’s Amateur, Junior Girls and Women’s Public Links last summer and played in this year’s Acura Hawaii Pro-Junior Challenge at the Sony Open.

She was more than ready for her first OIA championship and, despite her age, was wise enough not to go after the pins in the midst of all the wind.

"I just tried to get on the green and make par because par was a good score," she said. "If I got birdie it was something extra."