A month ago, Hawaii celebrated its remarkable U.S. Public Links legacy with a low-key day of golf and dinner. The intent was to say aloha to an event ending after 89 years, but in reality it was a day to enjoy old friends.

Ralden Chang — the Michelle Wie, Tadd Fujikawa, Alex Ching, Lorens Chan, John Oda, Mariel Galdiano, etc., of his day back in the late 1970s and early 1980s — appeared like an apparition from the past.

More accurately, he stepped away from his work as an Environmental Health Specialist with the Hawaii Department of Agriculture Pesticides Branch. He hasn’t played a competitive round of golf since the 1993 Barbers Point Invitational.

"He called me up and said he had read the article about the publinx," recalled 1994 Public Links national champion Guy Yamamoto, who hosted the celebration at Mililani Golf Club. "He said he wanted to play. I said of course. It was a good chance to see all our old friends."

Chang has been dearly missed on the golf course.

He was behind the scenes, working in course maintenance at Pearl Country Club, Makaha West, Royal Kunia and Ewa Beach — where he was superintendent — for 15 years. After work he was too exhausted mentally and physically to practice, so golf was pushed back to "on deck."

After his father died, and "some soul searching," he decided to leave course maintenance for more stability and better benefits. In 1999, he moved to the Department of Parks and Recreation for a few years, before hooking up with the state. His job now entails performing pesticide label reviews to make sure companies trying to register pesticides here comply with EPA requirements.

"I enjoy the people I work with," Chang says, "and that our work can help individuals make decisions that could affect human health and the environment."

But … "Ironically, now that I am comfortable with the direction my life is headed," Chang says. "I’ve found it difficult to motivate myself to practice."

"Ironically," the public links goodbye party might finally bring him back to the game he picked up with his father at age 8. They would hit iron shots into the wind on the "mauka side of Tenney baseball field in old Ewa Plantation town." They converted their backyard into a putting green, using Campbell’s Soup and Vienna Sausage cans for holes.

"I do have interest in playing seriously again," Chang says. "I was so excited to attend the public links celebration. It offered the opportunity to meet and play with friends that I have not seen for a long time. I was so happy when Jonathan Ota and Brandan Kop offered encouragement to come out and play in tournaments. Just seeing everyone and listening to their stories sure brought back fond memories."

Not only for Chang. Yamamoto played with him at the University of Hawaii for two years before graduating. Chang then transferred to UH-Hilo to pursue his agricultural degree, lifting the Vulcans to the NAIA District championship as a senior and earning All-Academic honors with a 3.6 grade point average.

He already saw his future, and it wasn’t firing his cut shots at flags or waving his magic wedge. Yamamoto, who still vividly recalls Chang’s ability to "will himself to play better," will always wonder what if.

"He was the first one to win back-to-back Junior World Championships," Yamamoto said. "His era was guys like (PGA Tour players) Billy Andrade and Sam Randolph. They all played Junior Ryder Cup together, went to England. Quite honestly, Ralden used to beat up on Billy Andrade."

Chang turns 51 Monday (3/30) and is nearly 40 years removed from being the first to win a Boys 13-14 Junior World championship at 13, and the first to successfully defend that title. The second was Eldrick Woods, before he was known as Tiger.

After finishing fourth at the PGA Junior Nationals, Chang played on the U.S. team at the Junior Ryder Cup in Manchester, England. He sank a 10-foot par putt on the final hole to halve his match and the U.S. won by that half-point.

He won back-to-back Hawaii state high school championships his final two years at Campbell (1981 and ’82). Only three other boys (Troy Tamiya, Jarett Hamamoto and Kalani Kia`aina) and three girls (Anna Umemura, Kristina Merkle and Mariel Galdiano) can make that claim.

Chang also won three Francis Brown Four-Ball titles, with Yamamoto, David Baker — when both were 15 — and Daryl Inaba.

His last win came at Barbers Point in 1992. Catching the bus to take lessons with Ted Murata at Bay View, then practicing with Murata’s sons and staying overnight is a distant memory. So are the later golf years when he worked with legendary Guinea Kop, who taught him the finer points of the game, to "play within yourself" and to always have a backup plan beyond golf.

Chang took it all to heart and still preaches the value of a college degree.

"I hope he comes back," Yamamoto says. "We’ve talked about it. About three years ago I played a scramble with him at Pearl and he was a little frustrated. He always played a cut and he kept aiming to the left part of the green and the ball wouldn’t target the pin. It wouldn’t cut.

"I told him I have good news and bad news. He was using a new ball and I told him the good news is, it’s not you, it’s the ball. The new balls are not going to cut anymore, they spin less and fly straighter. The bad news is, they don’t make the balls you used to play anymore so you better get used to it."