Mahalo for supporting Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Enjoy this free story!
Tyler Ota’s 20-foot birdie putt on Pearl Country Club’s 18th green on Sunday punctuated a runaway victory.
Patricia Ehrhart’s 6-footer on her 20th hole of the afternoon finished off a far tighter duel.
Both closed the weekend as multiple-time state champions.
Ota finished nine shots clear of the field to claim his second straight Hawaii State Amateur Stroke Play Championship, becoming the fifth player in the tournament’s 56-year history to go back-to-back.
“The hardest one is always the first one. Anything after that is almost like a cherry on top,” Ota said after signing for an even-par 72 to finish the four-day event at 5 under.
“Last year was a relief to finally get one, that was the goal for the longest time. Now that I have two, it’s a nice accolade I can add to my resume.”
Ota, the four-time reigning Hawaii State Golf Association player of the year, managed switching winds and challenging greens to emerge as the lone golfer among 30 entrants in the men’s open field to shoot par or better in all four rounds. He opened up a six-shot lead with a 68 on Saturday and wasn’t threatened in a final round that yielded just one score in red numbers — a 71 by G.J. Cruz of Los Angeles.
Ryotaroh Tsuji, a 20-year-old from Kyoto, Japan, closed with a 73 to finish second at 4 over.
“I sharpened up my ball-striking, that’s for sure,” Ota said. “I’ve been driving the ball really well off the tee, so I’m glad that carried over this week. … The putter got hot for a stretch of holes and it was good enough to hold it for today.”
Ehrhart, who won the Illinois state title in 1986, edged Punahou sophomore Karissa Kilby in a playoff to claim the women’s title in her first appearance in the Hawaii State Amateur.
After college, she toiled in mini-tours before earning LPGA Tour status in 1998 and ’99. She took a lengthy break from the game starting in 2000 while raising three daughters and applied with the USGA to regain her amateur status before turning 50.
“It brings back memories,” Ehrhart said of pairing the Hawaii title with the Illinois championship she won at age 20. “My father had passed away two weeks prior to that tournament. I remember thinking the whole thing couldn’t be real.
“How I’d end up in Hawaii and playing the state amateur here — you don’t plan your life, you just appreciate what comes with it. It’s really cool.”
Ehrhart, who moved to Hawaii close to a decade ago, saw a chance to win in regulation slip away with a three-putt bogey on 18 to finish at 72. Kilby’s two-putt par from the fringe capped her round of 71 to force the playoff.
They matched pars on the first playoff hole and Ehrhart stuck her approach on No. 2 to 6 feet. After Kilby’s chip ran well past the hole, Ehrhart drained her birdie putt to close it out.
Jonathan Ota (no relation to Tyler) won the senior men’s title at 3 over and Heikichi Katsuta of Tokyo claimed the mid-amateur crown at 9 over.
78