Later this month, the USGA will basically have a "celebration of life" for its Amateur Public Links Championships. The women play their final event in Washington and the men in Kansas.
Hawaii will grieve the loss of the publinx — the first national championship ever eliminated by the USGA — more than most. Wailua (three), Ala Wai (two) and Kapalua Bay (one) have hosted national tournaments and eight Hawaii golfers have won titles.
Rainbow Wahine coach Lori Castillo won twice and calls the tournament "golf in its purest form." The USGA started the publinx — in 1922 for the men and 1977 for the women — to provide a national championship for public course players. In other words, most of us.
Publinx also allowed players to receive travel expenses, which was huge for Hawaii, and the men’s champion was invited to play the Masters.
Kauai’s Guy Yamamoto, then 32, won the 1994 Public Links by beating six college opponents, including future tour players Notah Begay and Chris Riley. Yamamoto told USGA.org a memorable story about Phil Chun, who stayed in Bigfork, Mont., that week to caddie for his friend.
"Phil was a thin guy and probably had a 28-inch waist back then," Yamamoto recalled. "I jokingly asked him, ‘Do you think they have a jumpsuit your size (at Augusta National)?’ He goes, ‘I don’t care if they have to sew up a pant leg, I’ll find one that fits me.’ We laughed about it on Tuesday night.
"On Friday night before the final, we’re in the hotel room getting ready to go to sleep. He tells me, ‘I know you have a lot on your mind, but I would really love to caddie for you at Augusta.’ The mood was a lot more tense. He did end up as my caddie for the Masters."
The USGA announced it was eliminating Public Links in February, saying the two events "no longer serve their original mission because of the widespread accessibility public-course golfers today enjoy in USGA championships."
The country’s governing golf body will start men’s and women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championships next year. The annual events, scheduled between mid-March and late May, will have two-player teams.
"It’s sad. It’s very sad," said Michelle Wie, whose 2013 publinx victory at age 13 made her the youngest winner of a USGA Open event. "It’s definitely going to be missed. I’m sad that future generations of golfers aren’t going to experience the WAPL. But the USGA is having a new event, so it’s a new time to make new memories."
Publinx champions include Brandt Snedeker, Yani Tseng, the late Heather Farr and 2008 Masters champion Trevor Immelman. Casey Watabu beat Anthony Kim, 4 and 3, in the 2006 final.
Hawaii has been sending players to publinx since 1933 and Hawaii Golf Hall of Famer Arthur Armstrong reached the final a year later, with Art Fujita, Allan Yamamoto, Kimberly Kim (twice) and Wie also finishing second.
Early on, the state’s golf groups raised money to help fund trips for its low qualifiers, something that wasn’t allowed for other national events. Yamamoto remembers paying $700 for airfare to the U.S. Amateur in 1991. The guy he played a practice round with drove in and spent less than $100.
"In the golfing world in Hawaii, you have a lot of blue-collar workers, so for us, the Public Links is a huge event," Castillo says. "It really represents more of our society and our culture than it does the country-club scene. It’s the coming together of people who dig it out of the dirt at Ala Wai Golf Course … people that shag their own balls. The ones who stand in line for hours so that they can even play that morning.
"So when they started a Women’s Amateur Public Links, it was huge. The golf associations made sure that anyone who qualified would be able to afford to go. Those are the events you played in, because you couldn’t afford to do it differently unless your parents were really well off."
Castillo is also in the Hawaii Golf Hall of Fame, along with Charles Barenaba and Yamamoto, the latest inductee. He too is sad to see an event with such history, and so many Hawaii stories, go away.
"It’s just sad that something couldn’t be done to tweak it," says Yamamoto, the general manager at Mililani Golf Club. "In life, some things have to change. As long as they keep the trophy polished nicely at the USGA Museum, I’ll be happy."
U.S. PUBLIC LINKS
CHAMPIONS FROM HAWAII
Kyung Kim (2012)
Casey Watabu (2006)
Michelle Wie (2003)
Guy Yamamoto (1994)
Lori Castillo (1979 and ‘80)
Dean Prince (1978)
Randy Barenaba (1975)
Charles Barenaba Jr. (1974)
2014 QUALIFIERS
Clayton Amura
Brett Furutani
Mariel Galdiano
Donny Hopoi
Rose Huang
Jameson Keiley
Alice Kim
Eimi Koga
Kaci Masuda
John Oda
Cyd Okino
Aneka Seumanutafa
Dalen Yamauchi
Nani Yanagi
