Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Thursday, April 25, 2024 82° Today's Paper


Shootout opens with junior golf clinic

Registration is full, but families are encouraged to watch The First Tee of Hawaii Shootout Junior Golf Clinic on Sunday at Hoakalei Country Club.

Local golf professionals like Jared Sawada, who won last year’s Shootout, will be working the clinic, which runs from 3-6 p.m. There will also be long-drive and short-game competitions.

The fourth annual Shootout runs Monday to Wednesday. Qualifying for the 32-player field is Monday and two rounds of match play start at 7 a.m. Tuesday. On the final day, a Pro-Am begins at 7 a.m. and the eight top pros tee off in the Shootout at 1 p.m.

The tournament has a $38,000 purse, with the winner getting $14,000. The event raises funds for First Tee of Hawaii, which is still looking for volunteers to help with live scoring.

Jason Jackovac won the inaugural Shootout in 2013 and Scott Simpson took the 2017 title. This year’s field includes Sawada and Jakovac, Alex Ching, Mari Chun, Sam Cyr, Kevin Hayashi, Donny Hopoi, Alice Kim, Nick Mason, Cyd Okino, Juan Rodriguez, Stan Souza and University of Hawaii women’s coach Stephen Bidne.

Junior girls titles decided in playoffs

Both girls titles needed a playoff in last week’s King Auto Group 13-18 State Junior Championship, at the Club at Hokuli’a.

Kyung Eun Lee beat her first-round score by 14, closing with a 66 to catch Shayna Lu at 2-over-par 146 in the girls’ oldest age group. Lee birdied the first playoff hole (No. 18) to take the title.

Lee and Lu, who shot a final-round 75, will be juniors in the fall along with third-place finisher Karissa Kilby (76—147).

Teal Matsueda (75-78), Rachael Wang (76-77) and Raya Nakao (77-76) all finished at 154 in the Girls 13-14 Flight. All parred the first playoff hole. Matsueda and Wang moved on with bogey at the second (No. 17) and Matsueda won with par on the third (No. 18).

The boys champions were Kolbe Irei, who shot 68 both days to capture the 15-18 age group, and Joshua Chung. He won the 13-14s by 13 shots after rounds of 68-69. Irei won by two shots over Isaiah Kanno (69-69) and seven over Peter Jung (74-69).

The oldest boys played Hokuli’a at 6,900 yards and the younger boys from 6,500. The girls played it at 6,000 yards.

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