Amateurs roll past pros

Two streaks survived another run through the Gov. John A. Burns Challenge Cup.

The team of local amateur golfers retained the cup — and the accompanying bragging rights — for a sixth straight year with a 17-7 win over the professionals in the two-day tournament at Mid Pacific Country Club.

Brandan Kop also extended his personal streak of appearances in the event to 33 years as a late addition to the 12-member amateur team.

Kop contributed 11⁄2 points to the amateurs’ total on Monday and lost his singles match to Oahu Country Club’s Andrew Feldmann on Tuesday. But the cup was securely back in the amateurs’ possession soon after as the team —which included four high school players — cut the pros’ all-time lead in the Ryder Cup-style event to 23-16-1.

"It’s a fun event. As you get older I think I enjoy it more," Kop said.

"When I first started playing, we were intimidated. Now the young players, they play so many tournaments they’re not intimidated. They know they can handle it out there and they’re so much better."

The amateurs, co-captained by Guy Yamamoto and Phil Anamizu, opened a commanding lead on Monday by sweeping all six four-ball matches in the morning and took a 91⁄2-21⁄2 lead into Tuesday’s singles matches.

The amateurs needed just 21⁄2 points in singles play on Tuesday to retain the Cup and reached the target total within the day’s first four matches.

Pro Kevin Hayashi and amateur Jonathan Ota called in sick prior to the start of play, so both teams were awarded half a point. Tyler Ota got the amateurs started with a 3-and-2 win over Lance Taketa in the first match of the morning. Richard Hattori and Todd Rego then halved their matches to push the amateurs to the win.

The amateur team went on to win five of the remaining seven matches, with Donny Hopoi, Isaac Jaffurs, Skye Inakoshi, Kalena Preus and Jared Sawada prevailing. Niel Cabico and T.J. Kua earned the pros’ final two points.

Kua played on the amateur team for three years but turned pro in July after completing his playing eligibility at the University of Hawaii. He contributed two points to the pros’ total, teaming with Shawn McCauley for a win in Monday afternoon’s foursome and earning a point with a 2-and-1 win over Matthew Ma on Tuesday.

"The pros that played this year are no pushovers; they all know how to play and they can get the ball around and shoot a good score," said Kua, who will graduate with a degree in sociology this month. "The way the points turned out only shows how good (the amateurs) were this year."

The NCAA regulation that kept Kua from playing last year helped Kop extend his string of appearances in the tournament.

Kop finished the season 19th in the Governor’s Cup standings, which determines the amateur team’s roster. But he moved into 13th after the exclusion of current college players, who are ineligible to play in the Challenge under NCAA rules. He then joined the 12-member team when Rudy Cabalar pulled out due to a hand injury.

"I thought my season was over already and wait for next year," Kop said. "It’s incentive to play and it’s fun. It’s better to golf than work."

At 16 years old, Hopoi, a Kamehameha junior, and Moanalua’s John Oda were the squad’s youngest members and teamed up to win two matches on Monday. Hopoi then finished out a 3-0 run with a 3-and-1 win over Regan Lee in singles.

"It’s like a friendly get-together," Hopoi said after playing in his second Challenge Cup, "and for amateurs it’s a great learning experience because you get to learn from people like Regan and Kevin Hayashi, all those guys who’ve been there and golf is their career and that’s where we want to go to.

"To see our names on that trophy is a pretty cool thing. There’s so many other great players on it."