BYUH advances to tourney in Denver

Brigham Young-Hawaii extended its finest golf season with a fifth-place finish Wednesday at the NCAA Division II men’s South Central and West Regional, at the New Mexico State Course in Las Cruces.

The top five teams from each regional advance to the championship, May 17-21 at Green Valley Ranch in Denver.

The 16th-ranked Seasiders, playing in their first postseason, shot 291 in the final round for a total of 872. Top-ranked Chico State won with 852.

BYUH had three golfers in the Top 25, led by Nicolas Herrera, who tied for 17th at 73—215. PacWest Player of the Year Brent Grant (74) and Inoka Kahawaii (76) earned a share of 24th at 218.

Local ties dot regionals

At least four teams with Hawaii golfers are in the NCAA D-I Women’s Golf regionals, beginning today.

Northwestern, with junior Kacie Komoto (Punahou ’13), won its third Big Ten title in four years. She was one of four Wildcats named to the all-conference first team. It was Komoto’s second first-team honor after earning second-team recognition as a freshman.

Northwestern, which was 10th at last year’s national championship, is the No. 2 seed at the Shoal Creek regional, in Alabama. Brigham Young, with WAC Player and Freshman of the Year Rose Huang (‘Iolani ’15), will play in the Baton Rouge regional in Louisiana. Colorado (Brittany Fan) and Pepperdine (Marissa Chow and Hannah Haythorne) are headed to Stanford, Calif.

The top six teams and top three individuals not associated with one of those teams advance to the NCAA Championship, May 20-25 at Eugene Country Club in Oregon.

USGA deadlines approach

Deadlines are coming up for a series of USGA national events, beginning with the U.S. Junior Amateur qualifiers for girls and boys.

Entry deadline is June 1 for both. Local qualifiers will be June 28 (girls) and June 28-29 (boys) at Turtle Bay’s Palmer Course.

Deadline for the local U.S. Women’s Amateur Qualifier — July 2 at Poipu Bay — is June 15.

Participants must submit applications online at usga.org. For more information, visit usga.org or contact the Hawaii State Junior Golf Association at 532-0559 or info@hsjga.org.

Local U.S. Open qualifiers are coming up in the next week, at Ka’anapali (May 7) and Club at Hokulia (May 9). The U.S. Women’s Open Sectional is May 16 at Waialae Country Club, with the winner advancing to the national championship.

Deadlines to enter the U.S. Senior Open, both U.S. Amateur championships, the U.S. Mid-Amateur and both U.S. Senior Amateur events are between June 8 and Aug. 3.

Two local teams in BMW event

A Pro-Am team of Garrett Okamura, with Cindy Catugal and Mimi Orr, and an Amateur team of Jeff Moon and Matt Ma will represent BMW Hawaii in the BMW U.S. Finals at Pinehurst, N.C., in Oct. 5-9.

The teams qualified Saturday in the Ultimate Golf Challenge Pro-Am. Seventy amateurs and Aloha Section PGA members competed on the Royal Ka`anapali Course. Format was net Stableford scoring, with points for net bogey or better.

Okamura, from Dunes at Maui Lani, won the $3,000 first prize for pros, collecting 78 points. He had seven birdies and a bogey over the 36 holes. Kyle Hayashi was second with 74 points.

Okamura’s Pro-Am team had 210 points and Moon and Ma won in a playoff with Joel Navarro and Marcy Rhody after tying for first with 139 points.