Lu wins state amateur championship

Moanalua junior Shawn Lu will give Pearl Country Club a break on Monday, or maybe it’s the other way around.

Lu shot a 72 to win the Hawaii State Amateur Stroke Play Championship on the rolling course, turning a four-stroke lead going into the final round into a six-stroke final margin. Punahou’s Kyle Suppa shot a 69 for the low round of the day to jump over Nainoa Calip and Justin Williamson for second place.

"This tournament is huge," Lu said. "It will hit me tomorrow or the day after, but right now it’s like I didn’t play that great. But overall I think I played pretty good. It will hit me tomorrow."

The OIA will hold its annual tournament at Pearl Country Club on Monday, but Lu is going to stay away. He played the five rounds at the course last year, finishing ninth at the amateur after taking third the year before, but playing in the final group this year left him a little drained. He woke up at 7:30 a.m. for his 12:41 p.m. tee time, trying to listen to music to keep his mind off the task at hand.

"I just woke up way too early, I couldn’t get back to sleep I was so excited," Lu said. "I just tried not to think about it, but it eventually got to my head, but I guess it didn’t do much."

Lu started with 4s on each of his first six holes to shake off the jitters that come with an early lead, making the turn in 34 with four birdies and two bogeys. He kept the par machine going until the 14th and 15th, when he missed short putts to take bogey on both.

Lu then parred No. 16 but drove it into the trees on the left at the 519-yard par-5 17th. He counted that as lucky, though, since he was in the same spot on Saturday and threaded a shot through the trees to the front of the green. He did the same on Sunday, but the ball ran over the green and onto the cart path far beyond the hole. He took his drop, threw a dart at the flag and putted in for birdie. He eagled the hole in the second round, when he shot a 66.

"I guess I hit it a little too hard, too much adrenaline," Lu said. "It was really close to OB, I’m happy I got up and down from there. I got really lucky, though."

The top four golfers all came from the final group, with Justin Williamson matching Lu with a 72 to take third, a shot behind Suppa and the only other player to finish the tournament in the red. UH’s Nainoa Calip entered the final round in second, four shots behind Lu, but alternated great shots with disappointing ones to shoot a 76 and an even-par 288 for fourth.

Mike Kawate took the senior division by four strokes over Scott Ichimura after a final-round 72 and Kensuke Morinaka of Japan won the Mid-Amateur flight by two strokes over Bill Walbert of Kaneohe. Morinaka shot a 70 on the final day to Walbert’s 74.

Both Lu and Suppa sounded like four rounds on the tough course were quite enough despite their high standing on the leaderboard. Suppa drained a pair of putts from more than 35 feet to card his 69 but knew he had no legitimate shot at Lu, barring a complete meltdown.

"I didn’t play the greatest today," Suppa said. "The score was pretty good, but I had a lot of opportunities I didn’t take advantage of. Those two putts helped, but I didn’t make much inside of that, unfortunately. Someone would have had to go really low to catch Shawn today."