At 78 years old, Grace Wilson was thrown into one of the most competitive age groups in Hawaii golf at Monday’s annual State Women’s Golf Association Senior Championship.

The 80-somethings.

Wilson won the Championship Flight — ages 78-89 — at Hawaii Kai. She fired a 92 to edge 84-year-old Winnie Jones by a shot.

There were 91 players ages 50-older in the field. Of those, 11 were over 80 — six fewer than last year. It wasn’t quite enough to make up a flight so Wilson was left competing against a bunch of women she has golfed with much of her life.

"I was the youngest of the group," Wilson said. "They are super, wonderful, tough ladies. We have Flo Miyasaki (89), who plays a couple times a week, Annette Kono (85), who plays with the Schofield group, and a bunch of others. They are very dedicated. Golf has been wonderful to them and they have been wonderful for golf."

The official senior champion Monday was Kathy Ordway, who played her second nine in 1-over 37 and beat Jade Merkle, who also shot 79, in a match of cards. Mira Jang shot 80.

Merkle’s daughter, Kristina, is a senior on Tulsa’s golf team and two-time state high school champion. Jang’s daughter, Anna, won the 2007 state high school championship and is a senior at Princeton.

Wilson’s son Dean is 42 and plays on the PGA Tour.

Dean’s mother started in the game 60 years ago and still plays to a 16-handicap. She goes out two or three times a week to Mililani, Pali, Ewa Villages and Makalena mostly, and Olomana every once in a while.

"All public courses that are in good shape," she says, "and affordable."

The only one who can keep her off the course is 5-year-old grandson Keiichi. Grace was still working when her other four grandchildren were growing up and her two great-grandchildren are on the island of Hawaii. She doesn’t plan on missing out anymore and picks Keiichi up three times a week at preschool.

Keiichi’s Uncle Dean has been on a minor medical extension, suffering from plantar fasciitis that led to back problems. He played his first event in a year last month and missed the cut. He plans to play more when the Fall Series starts next month.

Dean didn’t start in the game until his freshman year at Castle High School.

"I was a PE teacher so all the children were involved in baseball, basketball and soccer," Grace says. "As long as they kept in sports they kept out of trouble. Dean got tired of all the team sports and one day said ‘Take me to the course.’ That was it."

Dean was the 1992 Western Athletic Conference champion and won three WAC team championships with Brigham Young. After turning pro, he won six events on the Japan PGA Tour, where he was 2000 Rookie of the Year. He has won $8.9 million since qualifying for the PGA Tour, with 58 Top-25 finishes. That includes a win at the 2006 International.

Dean is based in Las Vegas now to make travel easier, but it has still become a grind after all these years.

"He’s been taking it easy all year and enjoying it, maybe too much," Grace says. "He likes not having to jump on a plane."

Dean needs to win $266,852 this year to keep his playing privileges, or go back to qualifying school.