Moanalua senior earns second Turtle Bay title

Kyosuke Hara recalled being “still young back then” when he won his first Turtle Bay Amateur title two years ago.

Now all of 16, the Moanalua senior earned his second victory in the North Shore event on Sunday, edging Na Menehune teammate Jun Ho Won by one stroke with a two-day total of even-par 143.

Hara entered the day tied for the lead after shooting a 1-over-par 73 on Turtle Bay’s Palmer Course on Saturday. He turned a steady 1-under 70 on the Fazio Course on Sunday, shooting a bogey-free 2-under 33 on his final nine holes.

“I was just trying to enjoy myself out there and tried to play some solid golf,” said Hara, clutching the mini surfboard that comes with the title. “I was struggling to make some putts, but I wasn’t hitting the ball bad, so I just tried to keep it up.”

Although he saw a few birdie putts slide by the cup, Hara — who has committed to Oregon State — credited his shot making over the weekend for setting up those opportunities.

“(Tournament director Zakry Akagi-Bustin) put the pins in some tight positions, but my shot making was pretty accurate so I could hit it in the right sections and it made my life easier,” Hara said.

The leaders in the championship flight teed off the 10th hole on Sunday and Won kept the pressure on Hara throughout the round, playing the first eight holes at 3 under. Won made the turn two strokes ahead of Hara before slipping back with three bogeys.

Won matched Hara’s birdie on No. 5 and closed the gap with another birdie on the par-5 seventh while Hara’s putt lipped out.

But Hara drained a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-3 eighth and his 8-foot par putt on No. 9 was enough to fend off Won, who had dropped a lengthy birdie putt on the closing hole.

“It was a left to right slider so it was a difficult putt, it broke a lot,” Hara said of the clinching putt.

Tyler Ota, who won the Manoa Cup and Oahu Country Club Invitational this summer, made a run at the leaders with the low round of the day and his 68 left him three shots back and tied for third with Andrew Chin.

Alanis Sakuma claimed the women’s title with a two-stroke edge over Kaylee Akagi.