Leia Chung had no idea exactly what was at stake when she lined up her 20-foot putt on the final hole of the OIA championship golf tournament Tuesday.
The Leilehua freshman took a look at the downhill line and let it rip right into the hole, putting a gigantic smile on her face. She knew it was way better than not making it, but she did not know — and neither did anyone else at the Turtle Bay Fazio Course at the time — that the putt gave her the league individual championship.
“It’s pretty awesome,” Chung said when she heard the official news about 10 minutes later, after all the scorecards were verified. “I don’t know what to say. I’m grateful to all of the people who supported me — my parents, coaches and all my friends. I’m really grateful for this.”
As it turned out, a par by first-round leader Tagiralani Luafalealo of Moanalua on the closing hole was only good enough for second place — by one stroke. Had Chung missed, there would have been a playoff.
“I finished strong, but it wasn’t enough,” said Luafalealo, who, after a good cry and lots of consolation hugs from teammates, finally cracked a smile about 20 minutes after the loss.
There was one other consolation. Luafalealo combined with Catherine Luafalealo (154) and Kristen Yamate (183) to give Na Menehune the OIA team championship by one shot (482 to 483) over Kaiser.
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Chung finished at even-par 144 over the 36 holes for the victory, closing with a 2-under 70. Luafalealo, who started the day one shot ahead after an opening-round 73, birdied four holes in a row on her back nine, but still fell short at 145. In all she birdied five holes and bogeyed five.
“She (Chung) started good and ended good,” Luafalealo said. “She was right on her game. (The loss) was my fault.”
For Chung, who has three more years to try to collect more high school hardware, the flat stick was the name of the game.
“I was very happy with my putting today,” she said. “When I shot onto the green (at the last), I was thinking two-putt. I wasn’t thinking it was going in, but I was really happy when it did.”
Chung’s only two bogeys came on her front nine, and, after the turn, she made three of her four birdies.
“She has the game and her (small) size doesn’t matter,” Mules coach Traci Kashiwabara said.
On the boys side, first-round leader Curtis Meares of Kalani shot a closing 78, but still finished at 4-over 148, one shot clear of Kaiser’s Toby Baladad (72-77) for the league’s individual title. Baladad’s only birdie of the day — on the closing hole — gave him second place.
“I’m glad about my lead on the first day,” Meares said. “It was good that I had that cushion.”
Meares also led Kalani to a 627 for the team championship by one stroke over Mililani. Teammates Haruki Imanishi, Sung Jae Ko, Cole Matsueda and Brayden Miguel also had a hand in bringing the title to the school for the first time since back-to-back crowns in 1976 and ’77, when boys and girls teams were combined. The Falcons’ team victory also broke a string of 12 in a row by Moanalua.
The team title by the Na Menehune girls was their 11th overall, but first since 2013. It also ended Kaiser’s streak of four in a row.