Salas, Kua unfazed by challenges

A very good golfer might shoot 62 once in a lifetime. A prestigious tournament might see a round of 62 once in a few decades. Throw in our feisty wind and 62s are a figment of most golfers’ imaginations in Hawaii.

Until last weekend.

That’s when 23-year-olds TJ Kua and Lizette Salas sliced through gusty Kona winds at the Mid-Pacific Open and LPGA Lotte Championship to make 62 our new reality show. It was great theater.

“It was a great weekend for golf,” said Wesley Wailehua, the Aloha Section PGA’s executive director.

“Pretty much anyone in our golf community was in or at one of the tournaments, watching or volunteering.”

What they saw was spectacular, with Salas and LPGA Lotte champion Suzann Pettersen in a breathtaking Saturday shootout and Kua using his second-round 62 to vault to his first Mid-Pac title.

Kua, who turned pro after graduating from the University of Hawaii, meticulously avoided ridiculous rough and holed out from the bunker for one of his 10 birdies Friday. His course record and five hours of par saves Sunday lifted him past Kaneohe’s Dean Wilson, who has made more than $9 million on the PGA Tour.

“It was not our intent to make the course unplayable because we had pros to B-flighters all playing off the same tees,” said Wailehua, also Mid-Pac’s tournament director. “But the comments Friday were like we’re not sure TJ played the same course because guys shot 84 and they are professionals.”

Salas, a USC graduate desperately seeking her first LPGA victory, shot her terrific 10 under in Saturday’s final-round conditions. She blasted through tough pin placements, erratic winds and a bunch of contenders to shoot a course record at Ko Olina Golf Club.

After birdies at Nos. 8 and 9, Salas still trailed Pettersen by six. Salas knocked it in for eagle from 167 yards out on the next hole and birdied five in a row to catch the newly patient Pettersen at 19 under. If Salas hadn’t lipped out on the 18th, she would have won. Instead, it ended anti-climactically with Nancy Lopez’s protege hitting her approach shot in the water in the playoff.

Salas, who went back to a short putter last week after using a belly putter for nearly two years, had just 22 putts — four fewer than Kua. Neither took full advantage of the par-5s, Kua playing them in 2 under and Salas 1 over.

“After I made a silly bogey on a par-5 (No. 5) that just got me fired up …,” Salas said. “I was trying to see the putt go in, wasn’t trying to force it. That’s the whole reason why I went to the short putter because with the anchored one I felt like I was restricted. I couldn’t see the ball go in. The putter felt so amazing today.”

Still, a 62 and coming so close was little solace for Salas. It was her fourth top 10 this year and she bolted up 15 spots to 22nd in the world, but she ended her remarkable day in tears, quietly emphasizing, “I’m here to win championships and I’m here to change the world of golf.”

“It was incredible,” said Greg Nichols, Ko Olina’s director of golf. “I think these girls are all such great competitors. They’re playing to win, not for the check.”

Nichols believes the conditions at Mid-Pac might have been even tougher than the LPGA’s, with faster greens and deeper rough (31⁄2 to 4 inches). Kua still broke Greg Meyer’s record of 64, set in 1989.

“I love it,” Kua said moments later. “The ankle-high rough and quickness of the greens are unlike any other tournament in Hawaii.”

He was ecstatic about finally winning one of Hawaii’s most treasured titles, after claiming low amateur honors at the 50th Mid-Pac in 2008. His only regret was missing the tournament record of 17-under 271 by two shots. That was set by his uncle, Hawaii Golf Hall of Famer David Ishii.

This week, Kua started working at Pearl Country Club. He envisions playing in Japan or on the Asian Tour. Wailehua, his high school coach at Kamehameha, is trying to convince him to pass the tests and become a PGA member. He also has him coaching the intermediate team at his alma mater.

“My push as executive director is to get young guys like that as players. We don’t want to lose them down the road,” Wailehua said. “We want to grab them now to help support the growth of golf in Hawaii. Local guys like TJ and Dean can really help the community. Look at the way David does it with all those young kids he works with at Pearl. TJ is starting to realize it.”