Ma to defend title
After winning the Manoa Cup and Army Invitational titles the past two months, Matt Ma will open defense of a championship today when the 49th Oahu Country Club Invitational tees off. Ma held off Lorens Chan last year, winning by two shots.
The field includes 54 golfers in the Open Division and 43 in Seniors (55-older). The low 30 and ties after Friday’s second round play Saturday’s final round.
Other former champions in the field are Jonathan Ota, who won at Barbers Point last month, Eric Sonnenberg and Brandan Kop. The defending senior champ is Paul Kimura.
Golf begins at 6:45 a.m. today and Friday and 11 a.m. Saturday, with the leaders expected in around 5 p.m.
The OCC Women’s Invitational is Monday and Tuesday. The tournament uses a modified Stableford scoring system. A field of some 80 golfers goes out at 7:30 a.m. both days.
Fan, Furuichi tie
Honolulu’s Brittany Fan and Hana Furuichi tied for second in the individual portion of last week’s Mary Cave Cup, at Sycuan Resort in El Cajon, Calif.
Fan rallied for a 72 in the final round to shoot 5-over-par 149. Furuichi shot 75-74, playing the front nine in 32 the second day. They finished nine shots behind medalist Alice Jeong, the only golfer to break par.
Furuichi and Lisa Kang made up Hawaii’s second team, which finished third in the team competition with a 140 best-ball total (72-68). Kang (77—156) was 17th individually. Fan played with Marissa Uradomo. They shot 73-69 to tie for sixth. Uradomo (77—153) was 12th individually.
The winning team was Southern California 1, at 68-67—135.
Hawaii’s boys took 11th in the 44th Eddie Hogan Cup team matches, which ended Sunday at Riverside Golf and Country Club in Portland, Ore. Hawaii had rounds of 240-236 to finish at 20-over-par 476 in the four-man format. Kyosuke Hara led Hawaii with rounds of 77-76. He was 17th individually.
Oahu courses make list
Golf Magazine will publish its biennial “2012 Best Courses You Can Play” list by state in its September edition. The 20 courses include just two on Oahu (Turtle Bay Palmer and Ko‘olau) while four of the top eight are on Kauai.
The newly renovated Prince Course at Princeville is the No. 1-ranked course in Hawaii on the list. It placed 16th in the Top 100 nationally, which was published earlier. Kapalua Plantation (18), Mauna Kea 922) and Challenge at Manele (46) also made the national list.
Rankings are available online.
