Koga wins Callaway world championship
Moanalua High School sophomore Eimi Koga proved her Oahu Interscholastic Association championship was no fluke yesterday, winning the Girls 13-14 division of the Callaway Junior World Golf Championships.
Koga went wire-to-wire this week in San Diego, firing a final-round 72 yesterday to finish at even-par 216 at Sycuan Resort’s Oak Glen Course.
She was the only American in the top six. Koga was a shot better than Princess Mary Superal, from the Philippines. The next four players were from Thailand, Colombia, Australia and China.
Koga finished second to Kacie Komoto, another 14-year-old, at last year’s Hawaii State Women’s State Stroke Play Championship. Koga also caddied for Hawaii Pearl Open champion Akinori Tani in February.
Allisen Corpuz, Richard Hattori and Kane Rogers also earned top-10 finishes.
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Corpuz, the reigning state women’s match play champion, took second in the Girls 11-12 Division. Corpuz shot even-par 73 all three days to finish nine shots out of first.
Hattori (72-219) tied for seventh in the Boys 13-14s, 11 shots out of first. Rogers (62-191) was ninth in Boys 9-10s, 12 strokes behind the winner.
The oldest divisions (Girls and Boys 15-17) play four rounds and finish today. Alina Ching (74-219) goes into the final round seven shots out of first. State high school champion Cassy Isagawa (69-220) moved up from 16th to fifth and Marissa Chow (75-222) is tied for ninth.
Fujikawa shoots another 69
Tadd Fujikawa fired his second straight 2-under-par 69 and is tied for 25th halfway through the eGolf Tour’s Southern Open in Kannapolis, N.C.
Fujikawa played the back nine at Warrior Golf Club in 4 under, with an eagle on the par-5 13th, but had his second double-bogey in as many days on the front.
The Moanalua High School graduate’s total of 4-under 138 is eight shots off the lead of Trevor Fisher, who shot 65 the first two days.
This is Fujikawa’s 10th eGolf start this year. He has missed just one cut, and finished eighth and 25th in his last two tournaments. The 19-year-old is 23rd on the money list, with $24,027.
Igawa falls at Public Links
Hilo’s Chris Igawa’s run at the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship survived yesterday’s morning round, but finally ran out of steam in the afternoon.
Igawa, the 59th seed in the match play bracket, reached the round of 16 with a 4-and-3 win over Chase Wilson in the tournament’s second round at the Bryan Park Golf and Conference Center in Greensboro, N.C. He fell short of the quarterfinals with a 3-and-2 loss to Josh Anderson of California in the third round.
Igawa never trailed in his match with Wilson. He was 5 up after 10 holes and ended the match on the par-5 15th hole with the last of his five birdies.
He led early against Anderson with a birdie on No. 1, but bogeyed the third to square the match. Anderson took the lead for good with a birdie on the par-5 sixth hole and had five more birdies over the next nine holes to pull away.