Rego learning to love Leilehua course

Todd Rego’s move home from Las Vegas had nothing to do with golf, but yesterday’s runaway victory at the Army Invitational provided more evidence that the move was a good gamble.

Rego went into the last round at Leilehua Golf Course with a four-shot lead and left with a seven-shot victory over 2005 champion Matt Ma. When Rego’s birdie putt dropped on the final hole — his fifth one-putt over the final six holes — he had a 1-under-par 71 and three-day total of 8-under 208.

Ma, who closed with a 73, was the only other golfer to finish under par for the week at a Leilehua course long on yardage and troublesome trees.

Rego didn’t notice. This is the only tournament he has ever won and now he has done it twice.

His inaugural victory came in 2001, during his first summer break from UNLV. He played once more on a visit home in 2004. In January, he accepted an offer to teach special education at Nanakuli Intermediate and in Makakilo.

Clearly he has not lost his touch at Leilehua, a course he and Ma basically grew up on. At 28, Rego feels better about his game now than he did at 20.

"I play smarter than back then," Rego said. "I know to take your bogeys when you have to. Don’t try to do anything out of the ordinary. That’s different for me.

"The first day I was 2 under going into No. 9 and three-putted from 3 feet to go back to even. I started thinking, ‘What did I just do to myself?’ Then I told myself to get over it. Back then I would have gotten angry."

He was serene yesterday despite early frustration on the greens. His putting saved him the first two days — he and Ma shot 67s Friday to bolt to the top — but on the front nine yesterday nothing seemed to fall.

"If he had made some putts he could have shot something real good … ," Ma said. "His wedge game kept him in it and gave him a lot of opportunities. Every time he had a wedge in his hand he put it inside 10 feet. He made less than half of them."

Rego breathed sincere sighs of relief only twice on the final day. The first came early, after a fast-moving birdie putt on the fourth found the hole. Then he scrambled out of the trees for par on the 16th after Ma’s fourth birdie cut his deficit back to four.

"I hit into the trees and didn’t want to make a big number," Rego recalled. "Four strokes in three holes is not a big deal. That was the only time I really worried. … I just thought about playing safe all day."

Ma did not have that option, and bogeys eventually neutralized his birdies. Same thing happened three years ago when he collected 19 birdies and 14 bogeys and finished second to Brandan Kop.

Sueng Jae Maeng (70–216), who helped Moanalua to a runner-up finish at this year state high school championship, took third by a shot over University of Hawaii sophomore Cory Oride (74).

Iolani’s Corey Kozuma and Campbell’s Rudy Cabalar Jr. shared low-round honors with 68s to finish fifth and sixth.

WAIPAHU’S CORPUZ FINISHES SECOND

Waipahu’s Allisen Corpuz, who won last year’s Hawaii State Women’s Stroke Play Championship, came up a shot short of winning her fourth U.S. Kids World Golf Championship yesterday in Pinehurst, N.C.

The Punahou seventh-grader fired a final-round 71 in the Girls 12 Division for a three-day total of 212, a shot behind Sierra Brooks of Florida, who closed with a 74. Hilo’s Hana Furuichi (74–221) took eighth.

Today, the championship concludes with the U.S. Kids Golf World Cup. The top American finishers in the 12-year-old divisions face the top international finishers. The U.S. won last year on the fourth hole of sudden death.

In other age groups yesterday:

» Honolulu’s Millburn Ho was 14th in Girls 8s, at 40–119;
» Maddie White, also from Honolulu, tied for 47th in Girls 11s, at 84–265;
» Hilo’s Isaiah Kanno earned a share of 36th in the Boys 7s at 40–126;
» Aiea’s Ryker Moriwaki (88–259) tied for 93rd in Boys 10s;
» Kyosuke Hara (76–221) tied for 19th and Shawn Lu (81–229) shared 40th in Boys 11s.

Star-Advertiser staff