A celebration of life for Gary Planos will be held on Sunday from 3-5 p.m. at Kumu Lani Chapel, located behind the green on the second hole of the Kapalua Bay Course.
Family and friends are welcome to “share stories, memories and laughter” of the man many of the world’s greatest golfers knew simply as “Mr. Kapalua.”
Planos died Saturday at 62. He came to Maui in 1976 with $7,000 in his pocket and got a job in a matter of hours at the then-new Kapalua Bay Course. He started by making $3 an hour as bag boy and retired, nine promotions later, as senior vice president of resort operations in 2011.
Planos was ubiquitous at the Tournament of Champions that has opened the PGA Tour season at Kapalua since 1999, taking care of pros, sponsors and media. In an interview a few years ago, Adam Scott described just how well Planos had grown into the aloha spirit.
“He’s an incredible host,” Scott said. “I can’t say enough about the guy. He has to deal with 32 prima donnas every year, and somehow he caters for all our needs. He’s done a hell of a job and there’s always a smile on his face.”
Planos grew up in the Chicago area and was an Evans Scholar caddie. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Western Golf Association in his name. Donations and gifts will go directly to the WGA’s Evans Scholars Foundation. For more information, visit wgaesf.org
Corpuz wins Heather Farr Classic
Punahou senior Allisen Corpuz went wire-to-wire last weekend to win the 18th annual Winn Grips Heather Farr Classic in Mesa, Ariz. She will have an opportunity to take the next step April 10, when she plays in the LPGA Lotte Championship’s Sunday qualifier.
Corpuz and ‘Iolani’s Zoey Akagi-Bustin received the amateur exemptions for the qualifier at Ko Olina. Hawaii’s Michelle Wie and Stephanie Kono already are in the Lotte field. Wie won at Ko Olina in 2014 and Sei Young Kim is defending champ, after holing out from 154 yards to beat Inbee Park in a playoff last year.
The preliminary Lotte field also includes Lydia Ko, Se Ri Pak, Paula Creamer, Angela Stanford, Lexi Thompson, Brooke Henderson and Ai Miyazato.
Ko Olina is hosting a Ladies First golf clinic with LPGA player Allison Lee April 11 at 3:30 p.m. on the practice range. The first 75 at the clinic get a gift from Under Armour and the first 150 get a free ticket to the LPGA Lotte Championship, April 13-16 at Ko Olina.
Register for the clinic at koolinagolf.com/ladiesfirst.
Ko Olina also will host a Lotte Championship Tee-Off clinic next Thursday at Tamarind Square. The free event runs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and benefits Friends of Hawaii Charities. The Aloha Section PGA will offer lessons in hitting cages and there will be putting games and giveaways.
Corpuz, who will play for USC in the fall, shot rounds of 69-72-74 in Arizona to win by two shots Sunday. It was her first American Junior Golf Association victory since the 2010 AJGA Junior at Quad Cities. The four-time Rolex Junior All-American had 12 top-five finishes in between wins.
Punahou junior Andrew Chin missed the cut in the Boys Flight with rounds of 75-75.
Galdiano comes close at qualifier
Mariel Galdiano failed to qualify for the first LPGA major this week. The Punahou senior shot 78 in Monday’s ANA Junior Inspiration Invitational, which was won by Andrea Lee, at 5-under-par 67. Only two golfers broke par.
Galdiano, sixth in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking, was one of 10 juniors selected to participate by a tournament committee and junior golf associations connected with ANA North American gateway cities. Former Hawaii resident Aneka Seumanutafa, who also shot 78, was another selection.
That group joined 29 of Southern California’s best juniors to play for one spot in the ANA Inspiration, which begins today at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif. University of Hawaii recruit Malia Ebersberger, from nearby La Quinta, was part of the California group. She shot 82 in the qualifier.
Galdiano, headed to UCLA in the fall, will play on the Curtis Cup Team this June in Ireland. She won last year’s Canadian Women’s Amateur and made the cut at the U.S. Women’s Open.
Rego-Shimomura get 4-Ball win
Todd Rego and Kevin Shimomura opened with a 12-under-par 60 and went on to win the Aloha Section PGA Assistant 4-Ball Invitational last week at Honolulu Country Club.
Rego and Shimomura fired 66 in the final round and finished two shots ahead of John Hearn and Hunter Larson.
———
Ann Miller, Special to the Star-Advertiser