Lance Taketa and Jonathan Ota winning the Aloha Section PGA’s Bridgestone Golf Pro-Scratch Championship on Tuesday was no surprise. They also won it in 2010 and are a combined 35 under par in the event at Pearl Country Club the past two years, with barely a whiff of bogey.
The most compelling part of this tournament is who shows up.
The 11th annual pro-scratch included players from the LPGA Futures Tour — Sacred Hearts graduate Ayaka Kaneko — and Champions Tour — 68-year-old Dave Eichelberger. Kaneko leaves for Florida today for her third LPGA Q-School.
Power-hitting pro baseball brothers Kila and Kala Ka‘aihue teamed with diminutive golfing brothers Mark and Phil Chun. Hawaii Golf Hall of Famer Lance Suzuki brought his son, Ryan.
Punahou boys coach Matt Pakkala and Zack Braunthal, one of his players, tied for eighth. Last year Pakkala took 13th with Kalena Preus.
Campbell High senior Rudy Cabalar, the 2010 state high school champion, played with his mentor — Barbers Point pro Don Wilburn. The 14-time state senior long drive champion is trying to tame an extremely aggressive 17-year-old game.
"I play smart," Wilburn said.
"I go right at it," Cabalar shot back.
"I have to remind him, play smart," Wilburn went on. "As he gets older, it will start to register."
There were golf lovers involved in the restaurant business (Jim Mansell of Boardriders and Bikini Cantina, and Matt Luckett of Dave and Buster’s), and Hilo dentist Chris Igawa, who got a share of fifth with Hilo Municipal pro Lee Hardy.
About a quarter of the teams — the field is limited to 40 by founder Del-Marc Fujita — included a golf distributor. Ping’s Joey Castillo and Cobra’s Joey Sakaue played together.
The format teams a local pro with an amateur who plays with no handicap (scratch). The two play a scramble format Monday afternoon and a best-ball format Tuesday morning. That way, neighbor island golfers only need one hotel night.
Kaneko, 21, has been on the road for two years, since a wrist injury convinced her to cut her collegiate career short at Pepperdine and turn pro. She traveled without her parents for the first time this season.
The 2007 Rolex Junior All-American earned nearly $27,000, with two top 10s in 16 starts. That left her 14th on the money list. The top 10 got their LPGA cards.
She has been playing nonstop since, focusing on her short game, which let her down in the closing moments at last year’s LPGA qualifying, where she earned nonexempt status.
"I hope this is the last time I ever have to go to Q-School, to be truthful," Kaneko says. "But I think it’s been helpful for me to play two years on the Futures and the last two Q-Schools.
"At last year’s Q-School I made some stupid mistakes on an easy hole. I couldn’t handle the pressure. I learned I have to putt well under pressure and be smart on every single hole. It’s one shot at a time. You can’t think about the future, just that one shot. And, most importantly, just have fun. This is what I love to do, so I’ve got to have fun. Even though it’s hard and I should be nervous all the time, I’ve got to have fun."
That has rarely been a problem for Eichelberger. He hasn’t been full-time on the Champions Tour since 2008, but still plays nearly every day. He got through Q-School in his first try in 1966 — "It was actually only the second one they ever had" — and was successful twice more in the ’80s.
He has six wins on the senior tour and four more on the PGA Tour. His advice to Kaneko between now and the Nov. 30 start of Q-School is do what she’s been doing.
"Play, play, play, every day," Eichelberger said. "And make it mean something. If there’s no tournament, go find the best player in town and play him for 100 bucks or something like that. Something where you keep playing."
Taketa, 53, was one of three Hilo Municipal pros to finish in the top five. He collected $2,000 for first place. Ota got $600 as the top amateur. The 2006 Manoa Cup champ, who turned 50 last month, is the general manager of Tip Top Cafe on Kauai.
