A year ago, Samuel Cyr made one of Hawaii’s most historic golf tournaments part of his personal history when he won the 52nd annual Mid-Pacific Open by two shots over PGA Tour pro Dean Wilson.

It was Cyr’s first win as a professional. It came after a remarkable collegiate career at Point Loma Nazarene, where he was a four-time All-American, 12-time collegiate champion and captured the NAIA national championship his final two years.

The King Kekaulike graduate has not won since, but has come close. The last part of last year was a blur of mini tours, with stops at state opens and a stab at the PGA Tour that didn’t get past the Second Stage. Cyr learned a little about his game and a lot about finding balance in his new life.

"I learned a lot last year, my first time out there, being done with school, doing it fulltime for the first time," he said. "I probably played more than I should have. I noticed at the end of the year I played less tournaments and started playing a lot better.

"It had become like a job and I don’t really like that. I want to enjoy it. The end of the year was fun."

The beginning of this year, heading into the 53rd Mid-Pac Open starting today, hasn’t been bad either.

Cyr, who grew up in Makawao, "was talked into" moving to Arizona the first six months of the year to play the Gateway Tour. In his first start, he shot 65 the final day and came up a shot short of winning. That was worth $10,000.

He has won nearly that much more with five other Top-30 finishes, including a tie for 12th a month ago when he played the last two rounds in 12 under.

He is enjoying the must-go-low ride in the desert and will tell you all about it "dude" — just ask. He loves spending time with friends, finds it "awesome" traveling to tournaments and is just beginning to sense how critical that "balance" is on and off the golf course, whether he is shooting 65 or trying to stay patient when he opens with six straight pars on an Arizona course where anything in the 70s is an afterthought.

"I’m learning how to deal with it when I’m not playing well," says Cyr, 24. "There are so many times when you don’t play well. You fail 90 percent of the time. You only win a couple times a year if you’re having a good year. You don’t win a ton. Just getting more consistent is what I’ve been working on mostly. I’m always trying to make checks and bring money in and make it more fun for myself by balancing it better than I did last year."

He calls the Mid-Pacific Open closer to the tour atmosphere he aspires to with the PGA. The tournament is four days — 18 more holes than Gateway stops.

The Lanikai layout has firm and fast greens, and pin placements can be torturous. Even better, for Cyr’s systematic game, there is a consequence for missing fairways. In tree-challenged Arizona, an errant shot off the tee is easy to find and often even easier to play.

"I like it way more out here, it’s way more relaxing," Cyr says. "You have four rounds. You can pace yourself and be more patient. You can make a mistake and not feel like, ‘Oh my gosh I’ve got to do something or I’m out of the tournament.’ Par is a good score. It plays a lot like a tour event."

A year ago, Cyr and Wilson were the only golfers to break par in a field of 200-plus. Cyr parred the last 10 holes, making every significant four-footer he needed on warp-speed greens dried by strong winds. Wilson, a Castle High graduate who has made more than $8 million on the world’s toughest golf tour, could only claim his second runner-up finish in as many tries, which were 16 years apart.

The field this year includes 65 pros, including former champions Lance Suzuki, David Ishii, Brandan Kop, Regan Lee, Larry Stubblefield and Casey Nakama.

Hawaii Pearl Open champ John Ellis, from San Jose, Calif., is making his Mid-Pac debut and former Nationwide player Nathan Lashley is back for more. Hawaii’s Kevin Hayashi and Nick Mason are looking for their first Mid-Pac titles, along with a pack of high school prodigies led by state champ Rudy Cabalar Jr.

There are Pro, Championship, A, B, Senior Pro and Senior Amateur flights.

There is a lot to play for, in a tournament that boasts 10 Hawaii Golf Hall of Famers as former champions. The 2008 and ‘09 Opens were won by Tadd Fujikawa, between Sony Open sightings. Those were the years Cyr won his NAIA titles, back when golf was a game and tour golf still a dream.

Cyr and Mason play with amateurs Paul Kimura and Todd Rego the first two days. They go out at 12:33 p.m. today and 7:33 a.m. tomorrow.