MAUNA LANI, Hawaii » Tamara Surtees could not remember the last time she won in Hawaii, Nicole Sakamoto has hardly lost and Dean Wilson is the favorite every time he tees it up in a local tournament. Sunday’s final round of the Mauna Lani Resort Hawaii State Open offered all kinds of story lines.
Wilson won his second State Open in five years. The PGA Tour’s $9 million man from Kaneohe — who has also won state opens in Utah and Alaska — had a fifth and two seconds here in the interim.
Surtees’ professional debut could not have been more successful — she won $1,000 — or spectacular.
The June Santa Clara grad carved out a four-shot advantage after two rounds on a course down the road from her Waikoloa home. Sakamoto, who has won five of the last six Hawaii women’s majors she has played, caught her Sunday with a bogey-free 67 at Mauna Lani South. Both finished at 224.
On the third playoff hole (154-yard No. 3), Surtees hit her tee shot a foot from the cup for the win.
"My alignment was a little off and throughout the day I had to figure it out," Surtees said. "On that shot I knew exactly what to correct."
Wilson skidded to a one-shot win over Kauai’s TJ Kua (72) and Texas pro Jaime Gomez (70), three-putting two of the last three greens.
After firing one of just three sub-par rounds in Friday’s shifting wind blasts, Wilson also took a four-shot advantage into the final round after a flawless 5-under-par 67 Saturday.
He closed with a few flaws, particularly on Mauna Lani North’s difficult greens, but so did his closest pursuers. All three golfers in the final group — Wilson, Andrew Putnam and Mack Duke — closed with 76. Putnam actually caught Wilson at the turn, but shot 42 on the back.
"They both kind of ran into problems in the end," Wilson said. "Andrew hit out of bounds on 16 and Mack hit one out of bounds on 15 and Andrew hit another one in the lava on the last one."
Wilson hopes to play some on the PGA Tour next year with his past champion status, and also could join Parker intermittently on the Web.com Tour. When he plays at home, he is here to see friends and family, "get my name on the trophy" and keep an eye on Hawaii’s future.
He played Friday with juniors John Oda and Kalena Preus, and Sean Maekawa, an Oregon graduate now playing mini-tours.
"It’s fun just to watch and see how they’re doing," said Wilson, who turns 43 today. "It’s really interesting because they are so much better than we were. I’m really pleased to see David Ishii and Kevin (Hayashi) and Casey (Nakama) and all the other guys teaching the juniors are doing a great job.
"Hawaii golf is getting on the map. They’re getting scholarships and have a chance to change their lives. Back in the day, I had to walk on at BYU."
Surtees is one of those new-wave golfers. An exceptional all-around athlete at Hawaii Prep, she became a poised and polished golfer during an all-conference college career. She came home planning to use her business marketing degree, but was convinced to try professional golf by teaching pro Kitt Felte, a former coach who returned to Hawaii just before she did.
Ayaka Kaneko, who spent this year on the LPGA Tour and is planning to play the Symetra Tour in 2013, has known Surtees for almost 10 years and saw a massive improvement in her while playing in the final group.
"She hits this nice fade," said Kaneko, who missed a 15-footer on the last hole that would have put her in the playoff. "I’m so jealous of it. … She made a couple bogeys but she hung in there, made some really good par putts."
Hayashi, a Hilo pro now working at nearby Nanea, won his first Senior Pro title after capturing three straight State Opens from 1999-2001. He closed with 69 for a three-day total of 5-under 211.
He birdied two of the first four and "from there just tried to hit fairways and greens" for his seven-shot win over Dave Eichelberger.
"There was still stress," Hayashi said, "but it was good stress."
Carl Ho (70—147) won the Senior Amateur flight by one. Canadian Trent Norcross (76—221) beat Christian Akau and Richard Hattori by four to earn low-amateur honors. Tracy Kitamura finished at 74—229 to win A flight by seven.
The weekend began with three-time champion Scott Simpson withdrawing because of a burglary at his Kailua home. It ended with Mauna Lani committing to another year of title sponsorship.
Wilson won $10,000 and Hayashi $5,000.
