With Kaiser sophomore Malia Nam leading the way, Hawaii climbed within five shots of first-place Mexico going into Thursday’s final round of the Girls Junior Americas Cup.
Nam leads the individual standings following a second-round 72 Wednesday at Cheyenne (Wyo.) Country Club. Her 2-under-par 142 total is two shots better than Mexico’s Isabella Fierro.
Southern California’s Clare Legaspi is four back and Punahou’s Aiko Leong, who also shot 72, trails by six and is tied for fourth.
Hawaii’s Alanis Sakuma (159) and Mari Nishiura (162) shot 76 apiece.
Mexico’s team total is 12-over 444. Hawaii fired 220 — Wednesday’s best score — to pull into second. Southern California is third, nine back of the leaders.
The annual 18-team event brings together the top teens from the Western U.S., Mexico and Canada.
Hawaii’s boys move up four spots, to eighth, at the 43rd annual Junior America’s Cup, in Flagstaff, Ariz. With rounds of 217-216, Hawaii — the defending champion — is 21 shots behind first-place Southern California.
A second-round 67 moved Punahou senior Kyle Suppa into a share of sixth, four shots off the lead at 139. He is followed by Junho Won (78–147), Andrew Chin (74–150) and Kyosuke Hara (75–152).
Chi Chi hosts Wounded Warrior Project
Chi Chi Rodriguez will host the fifth annual "World’s Largest Golf Outing" on Monday. The tournament benefits the Wounded Warrior Project and will run at more than 140 golf courses around the country.
Billy Casper Golf created the event in 2011. Troon, ClubCorp and Toll Golf have joined up this year. The event has raised more than $2 million and the goal this year is to surpass the record $887,000 donated last year.
In Hawaii, the event will be played Saturday at Princeville Makai, Sunday at Kauai Lagoons and Monday at Ka’anapali Golf Courses and Puakea. All have shotgun starts in the morning.
Cost is $99 a player at Ka’anapali, $85 at Princeville and $55 at Kauai Lagoons and Puakea.
For more information and to register, visit worldslargestgolfouting.com/register.
Locals finish in top 10 at junior event
Hawaii had two girls in the top 10 in last week’s Adams Golf Junior Championship at Forest Akers East and West Courses in Michigan.
Honolulu’s Zoey Yamamoto shot rounds of 76-80 to finish fourth, three shots out of first. Kapolei’s Alanis Sakuma was two behind Yamamoto and ended up eighth.
Iiizumi, Teraoka garner top 10s
Hawaii’s Reina Iiizumi and AJ Teraoka collected top-10 finishes last week in the Optimist International Junior Championship, at PGA National Resort and Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
More than 600 golfers from around the world qualify for the tournament.
Iiizumi took fourth in the youngest girls division (10-12), closing with a 74 to finish at 222. She was five back of the winner, who was from China, while Kaylee Akagi (84–238) took 12th.
Teraoka was seventh in Boys 14-15s, shooting 74–220. He was four behind the champion, who came from Indonesia. Evan Kawai (74–226) shared 18th and Acey Yanagishita (81–237) tied for 60th.
Joshua Hayashida (80–247) took 34th in Boys 10-11, with Marshall Kim (85–250) getting a share of 37th.
The oldest kids are halfway through their four-day championship.
Torres, Chung, Lu win Pearl titles
Jacob Torres, Joshua Chung and Shawn Lu went low to win titles at last week’s Pearl Junior Open, one of the Oahu Junior Golf Association’s major events.
Torres, playing Pearl Country Club at 5,536 yards, shot rounds of 66-68. His score of 10-under-par 134 won the Boys 11-12 division by 17 shots.
Chung, playing the course 1,000 yards shorter, shot 71-66 and won Boys 10-under by four over Ariihau Faana.
Lu closed with a 65, playing Pearl at 6,787 yards. He was the only golfer in red numbers in Boys 15-18s, winning by five with a two-day total of 139.
Gunwok Baik (76–150) captured Boys 13-14s. Girls winners were Iris Kawada (78–155) in the oldest division, Tory Nakata (83–159) in 13-14,
Kyungeun Lee (76–154) in 11-12 and Rachael Wang (81–162) 10-under.
Girls played tees that ranged from 4,533 yards to 6,232.
Ten golfers again came in from Japan for the tournament, with Kein Komuro and Akane Iida finishing second in their divisions.