Gomard grooms Hawaii’s future

Hawaii has golfers succeeding all over the world. The Pac-12 Conference is becoming the "home course" for local college student-athletes. They are lugging huge trophies home from coveted events.

On Saturday afternoons at Hickam’s Ke‘alohi Par-3 Course — all 1,400 yards of it — you can sneak a peek into the future of the game. Look for Iwalani Gomard and a bunch of single-age-digit golfers playing for a can of corn or soup.

For the past 37 years, Gomard has shaped Hawaii’s best and brightest for free just inside Hickam’s gates.

She doesn’t golf much herself.

"I don’t play like my husband," she conceded quickly. "I thought he was really stupid hitting that little ball all over. I used to ask him why are you hitting that little ball? But I used to watch him a lot."

Ask anyone in the Gomards’ age group and they will tell you Richard "Skippy" Gomard was the Marcus Mariota of his time. A multi-sport and multi-talented athlete, the 1950 McKinley graduate went to Purdue to play football.

He came home after a year to enlist and marry his high school sweetheart, a song leader with a black belt in jujitsu and a hidden talent for teaching golf.

Richard’s friend worked at Ke‘alohi, which opened in 1965. He asked him to teach the kids, but "Skippy" preferred to play.

"So I took over," Iwalani said. "You really have to like it because it takes a lot of time. I’m up there about 12 and don’t leave until every kid leaves, around 5 or 6 p.m."

She takes tiny kids, ages 5 and up, and molds them into players who know their etiquette and invariably grow to love the game. Many have matured into prominent players. She has pictures of Stephanie Kono, Jared Sawada and Mari Chun in her scrapbook. Kalena Preus, Allisen Corpuz and Kyle Suppa have worked with her.

Punahou junior Mariel Galdiano, who has played in two U.S. Women’s Opens and won two state high school championships, stayed with "Mrs. Gomard" seven years. If you doubt that, watch Galdiano’s precise short game closely. She won a lot of corn with that spectacular touch, but that isn’t what Galdiano remembers most.

"The atmosphere around her program is very welcoming," she said. "Everyone knows each other. We often talk to the other people in our groups and enjoy each other’s company.

"Mrs. Gomard really emphasized the short game, so my dad and I decided to keep going there every Saturday. We took Mrs. Gomard’s advice and my short game improved a lot. While other kids stopped going, we kept on going, even though I was one of the oldest in her program."

Since no money is involved, Gomard chooses who she works with. She doesn’t advertise, but the coconut golf wireless has huge range. Parents all over Oahu and many military families seek her out.

Shakhil Ahmed caddied for Tadd Fujikawa at the Sony Open in Hawaii. His daughter, who is 6, turned in a smooth 34 one recent Saturday at Ke‘alohi, with three birdies. Shakhil calls Gomard simply "a great lady."

Gomard doesn’t make kids great, but she prepares them for greatness.

Her swing theory is to watch closely, then tell her husband what she saw and get his advice.

"My husband is my teacher," she said. "I go home and tell him exactly what the kids did and he tells me go back and do this. That’s it, very basic. He is a wonderful teacher. I don’t want to brag, but he is a wonderful teacher."

Etiquette is huge. It is the first subject kids bring up when they talk about Gomard. The second is having fun with their friends. Sometimes, they even talk about their game.

"The first few times a child comes out with me I go around nine holes with them to make sure they know what they are doing, learn some etiquette," Gomard said. "Most of all, they know not to goof off when I’m around."

Her students — she has had as many as 90 at a time — used to all be boys. Now, about half are girls, and they are precocious.

At 16, Corpuz and Galdiano have already verbally committed to USC and UCLA.

Some of her early students have brought grandchildren to work with her. It makes her smile, but she likes teaching them as much now as she did their grandparents in the 1970s.

"I get to enjoy seeing the kids get better and better," she said. "I usually have them four or five years, then they move on to a bigger course, a coach, go to high school, go to college. It’s so nice to see them playing. I really enjoy it. … The little ones have to learn somewhere."

She has learned to let them go, and often they come back — to say thanks.

"It is fun," she said. "I enjoy it because I see the good of the kids coming out. I see kids going to college because of golf. I’m so happy I have a chance to be a part of their life."

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Pacific Links event moves to China

Hawaii will be the site of the start of the Champions Tour season for the 19th straight year, but the Pacific Links Hawaii Championship is moving to the 27 Club course, in Tianjin, China, in September. It will now be the Pacific Links China Championship.

The new course was developed by 27 major champions, including Champions Tour professionals Mark O’Meara, Fred Couples and Tom Watson. Each was asked to put their favorite elements into each hole to reflect the unique character of their games.

There are 26 tournaments on the 2015 schedule, in the U.S., Canada, England and China. Total purse for the year is more than $53 million.

The Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai is Jan. 23-25. Tournament winners from the past two years, along with a few exemptions, are invited. Bernhard Langer won this year on the Big Island, birdieing five of the last six to beat Jeff Sluman and Couples.

Paul Goydos won the last of the three Pacific Links Hawaii titles this September. The 2007 Sony Open in Hawaii champion survived Fred Funk’s hole-in-one on the 16th the final day to win by one at Kapolei Golf Club.

Sony Open to remain at Waialae CC

Friends of Hawaii Charities and Waialae Country Club celebrated 50 years with the PGA Tour by signing an agreement Wednesday that keeps the Sony Open at the Kahala course another four years.

A year ago, the tour and Sony announced a four-year extension that takes the tournament through 2018. Wednesday’s agreement guaranteed it would not move from Waialae.

It will be the 50th tour event at Waialae. Only Augusta National, which has been home to The Masters since 1934, and Colonial Country Club, site of a tour event since 1946, have hosted longer.

The PGA Tour’s first full-field stop of 2015 is Jan. 15-18. The tour starts the year the week before on Maui, with the Hyundai Tournament of Champions Jan. 9-12 at Kapalua Plantation.

Defending champion Jimmy Walker and Tim Clark, who has never finished out of the top 25 at Waialae, are among those who have committed to play in the Sony.

Walker shot a final-round 63 last January, to beat Chris Kirk by one and 2002 Sony winner Jerry Kelly by two. It was Kelly’s fifth top-five finish at Waialae. Clark finished second in 2011 and 2013.

Walker is No. 21 in the World Golf Ranking. Others in the top 25 who have committed early to the Sony are Matt Kuchar (11), Hideki Matsuyama (16), 2009 champion Zach Johnson (18) and Kirk (20).

Tickets are $15 if purchased online in advance at sonyopeninhawaii.com. Tickets at the gate tournament week are $20 daily and $50 for a season badge good all week.

Practice & Play back for 2015

Poipu Bay’s "Practice & Play" program will continue through 2015. Golfers can practice at the range, then play three holes in late afternoon on the oceanfront course for $30.

Golfers can "Practice & Play" by booking a time between 3 and 4 p.m. any day of the week. Players are provided with range balls and use of the practice facility (which closes at 5 p.m.), as well as a golf cart and access to play the course’s first three holes — a par-3, par-4 and par-5.

For more information or to book times, call the Golf Shop at 800-858-6300 or 808-742-8711.

Wie receives national honor

Earlier this month, Hawaii’s Michelle Wie and hockey Hall of Famer Mark Messier were honored by March of Dimes as Sportswoman of the Year and winner of the group’s Sports Achievement Award. They received the honors at the Waldorf Astoria New York.

Past recipients include Mickey Mantle, Andre Agassi, Venus Williams, Patrick Ewing, Lisa Leslie and the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team.

Wie has won four LPGA events, including this year’s U.S. Women’s Open and LPGA Lotte Championship at Ko Olina.

She shot the lowest round ever recorded by a woman in a men’s PGA Tour event, firing a 68 in the second round of the 2004 Sony Open in Hawaii, missing the cut by one. The previous year, Wie became the youngest ever to win a USGA adult event, capturing the U.S. Women’s Public Links title at 13.