Grant wins again at Turtle Bay

By Jason Kaneshiro

jkaneshiro@staradvertiser.com

Brent Grant’s blistering round on Saturday made for a relatively stress-free final day of the Turtle Bay Open.

Nainoa Calip and Jared Sawada had no such luxury in the tournament’s professional flight.

Grant followed up a 9-under par 63 on Turtle Bay’s Fazio Course on Saturday with a 1-under 71 on the Palmer Course and ran away from the local amateurs in the championship flight with a tournament-low total of 12-under 204.

Grant practiced on Turtle Bay’s courses regularly during the college season with BYU Hawaii and Sunday’s win was his fourth of the year. He won two college tournaments in the spring, captured the state amateur match play title with a victory in the Manoa Cup in June and claimed his second Turtle Bay title in the last three years.

“I was used to the conditions, I was confident in what I was doing and I was able to go low,” Grant said.

While Grant began the day with a 13-shot cushion that grew to 17 by the end of the round, Sawada led Calip by 1 stroke and they ended the round tied at 2-under 214. Calip then claimed the tournament’s inaugural professional flight with a par on the first playoff hole.

Players were paired according to their scores regardless of status which put Grant and Sawada together in the final group, with Calip playing with AJ Teraoka in the group ahead. The arrangement left Calip and Sawada unsure what the other was doing for most of the day.

After a rough start, Calip said he “put (Sawada) out of my mind and put even-score in my mind and that was kind of my competitor for the day, trying to get back to even par.”

He did one better when he dropped a 13-foot eagle putt on the par-5 18th hole to finish the day at 1 under. His reaction gave Sawada a hint of what he needed on the last.

“I was in the fairway and I saw Nainoa fist pump when he made his (putt),” Sawada said. “I knew it was an eagle, it was an eagle fist pump. After that I was like, ‘I feel I need a birdie here’ and sure enough birdie made the playoff.”

Sawada got up and down from the bunker behind the green, rolling in a 7-foot putt for birdie and went to Fazio’s ninth tee for the playoff. His approach hit inside of 10 feet but spun back and he couldn’t match Calip’s par.

Calip, who spent part of his year in Asian Tour Qualifying School, opened the tournament with a 75 on Friday. He bounced back with a 68 on Saturday and had just enough on Sunday to pull out the win.

Alanis Sakuma, a senior at Island Pacific Academy, won the women’s division with a two-round total of even-par 144. The Ohio State commit went 1 under on the Palmer Course on Saturday and 1 over on Fazio on Sunday.

“This is one of my favorite courses,” Sakuma said. “My iron shots were pretty good. I had a few birdies that were just tap-ins and I had a pretty good time just keeping it in the fairway and staying out of trouble.”