Gregory Meyer continues to prosper on Japan senior golf tour

This blast from the past comes with a sweet, soft-spoken style, and still-sweet putting stroke.

Hilo’s Gregory Meyer, inducted into the Hawaii Golf Hall of Fame seven years ago, won another tournament in Japan two weeks ago.

Meyer, now 57, looks pretty much as he did when he played his last tournament in Hawaii six years ago. He has been in Japan nearly 30 years now and will celebrate his 20th anniversary with wife Akiko next year. Their daughters are 14 and 7.

“I always figured I’d marry a Japanese girl, which I did,” Meyer said by phone this week. “I always liked the culture and food and people in Japan. Whether I married a Japanese girl and lived here or in Hawaii, the Japanese tour was going to be the one. The whole situation was right, so we stayed here.”

On April 20, he won the Nojima Cup, a Japan PGA Senior Tour event in Kanagawa. Meyer shot 66 both days to beat Kiyoshi Murota and Jong-Duck Kim by four. Hawaii’s David Ishii tied for 38th.

The tour’s second-biggest purse for any 36-hole event ($438,000) helped Meyer move into first on the early money list. It also made him wonder, as it always does, if this would be the last time he would hold the trophy.

“Last time I won, my daughters were there,” the 1978 state high school champion said. “You never know when you’re going to hold that trophy again, so that was on my mind. I wanted to hold it again.”

His daughters wanted him to hold it again. So did many Hawaii golfers. Meyer’s calm, kind demeanor has made him all kinds of friends in his career, from all over the world.

At senior tour stops now he hangs with Ishii, his former boss at Pearl Country Club, to say nothing of friend and mentor. Their crew also consists of Frankie Minoza, Minoru Hatsumi and Hiroshi “Tommy” Tominaga.

“It’s always fun hanging out with the guys you’ve played with for such a long time,” Meyer says. “And to be able to speak English.”

Their time together off the course does not consist simply of meals and golf stories.

“We talk about new trends and David introduces me to what’s good on YouTube,” Meyer adds. “He is the YouTube champion.”

Meyer has had his share of highlights in Japan. He turned a few exemptions into a home on the Japan Tour Golf Organization after playing for the University of Hawaii and turning pro in 1984.

Nearly 70 top-25 finishes helped him win about $2 million on the JGTO, along with a devoted group of supporters he credits for keeping him going.

“It seemed like every tournament was a highlight,” Meyer says, “but probably the (2002) Fujisankei Classic was the biggest. I almost won. It was a big boost. It showed me it could work out.”

He has now won three times (two official events) since joining the senior tour at 50, the same year he was inducted into Hawaii’s Hall of Fame.

His induction was an international honor, based on his persistence in Japan and years of success in Hawaii — 15 victories and 10 Hawaiian/Sony Open appearances.

That includes four Hawaii Pearl Open titles, two fewer than Ishii, also a Hall of Famer. Meyer had shots at six. In 1997, he lost a playoff with Murota. A decade later, then-16-year-old Tadd Fujikawa — fresh off becoming the youngest to make a PGA Tour cut in 50 years — hit his final approach to a foot to beat Meyer on the final hole at Pearl.

The senior tour has been more relaxing. The schedule runs April to November, with lots of time off and always a “chance to prove what I can do and see if I’ve still got it.”

And how best to use it, something that rarely crossed his mind before.

“I guess it’s maturing with age and maybe realizing your own capabilities and not trying do more than you should,” Meyer says. “At this age, you still think you can do things you did in your 20s or 30s. Then you hit the shot and think ‘Hey, it’s a little different.’ That and keeping up with the health and fitness is a big part, too.”

The family comes to Hawaii only once a year now. The kids are young and Meyer is young enough to be a threat on the senior tour. He is hardly ready to set limits.

“You just want to play as long as you can,” he says. “You never know when that last win is going to be. I want to keep playing as long as I’m competitive. For me, there is no plan on the horizon. I’ll keep on going.”

Then he laughs. “The kids are young too, so I have to keep working.”