Just another July in Hawaii golf.

Jared Sawada won the First Tee Shootout again.

Tyler Ota won again and again.

There were major events, again and again and again, for every age group, here and on the mainland.

Most lucratively, there was Sawada winning his second straight $14,000 first-prize shootout check at Hoakalei. There have only been four of these First Tee of Hawaii fundraisers, which offer Hawaii pros some of the biggest checks of the year. The unique format opens with a qualifying round, moves on to match play, then has an eight-player shootout the final day, along with a pro-am.

A month earlier, Sawada came up a shot short of Brent Grant in the Mid-Pacific Open. Sawada started 2019 by making his third Sony Open in Hawaii appearance.

The 2008 Mililani alum won the shootout by two shots over Alex Ching and Sam Cyr. Sawada also captured the Aloha Section PGA Ka’anapali Classic Pro-Pro Championship this year, with Jason Jakovac, and ran away with the Big Island Invitational.

That still leaves him a few titles short of Ota, the Hawaii State Golf Association’s amateur player of the year the past four years. A five-peat appears imminent.

Ota, a 2011 Moanalua grad, just claimed his second Oahu Country Club Men’s Invitational. It came a month after he won his second Manoa Cup and became the first to snag that state amateur match-play championship and the Hawaii State Amateur Stroke Play title the same year.

This was the 111th Manoa Cup. Stroke play started in 1964.

In between, Ota was low amateur at Mid-Pacific a third straight year. His four-stroke win over Kolbe Irei at Barbers Point a week before OCC means he is a personal-best 5-for-5 this year.

Ota attributes his amateur domination this year to working faithfully on the flaws he finds in each event.

“The goal for the rest of the year is to just to give myself the best opportunity to win each tournament,” says Ota, who is in Japan this week playing the Hochi Amateur. “And of course hopefully it will be good enough to get that Sony spot.”

That is an amateur exemption into the PGA Tour’s Sony Open in Hawaii, given each year by Friends of Hawaii Charities. The Manoa Cup champ and top 11 point-getters from designated tournaments during the year play for the coveted slot each November.

Ota is already in with his Manoa Cup win, but even before last month’s sweep he led the points list by more than 500.

Still, professional golf is not tugging him.

“I just enjoy competing,” Ota says. “And I have a lot of goals that I want to accomplish as an amateur still. … I plan to compete as long as possible and eventually give back to the golf community if and when the time comes.”

He is not saying this is his best year, but does acknowledge that it has been “special” and now historic. The focus now, as always, is on getting better — and getting that Sony tee time.

“That Sony spot is still the No. 1 goal every year,” Ota says. “Everyone wants it, but unfortunately only one person gets it. Being someone who has experienced it once, the want for getting back is even greater.”

Sawada and Ota’s success last month was complemented by all kinds of major golf moments, including these national and international accomplishments.

>> Lorraine Char, Allysha Mae Mateo and Alanis Sakuma grabbed Hawaii’s three qualifying spots for the U.S. Women’s Amateur, which tees off Monday at Old Waverly in Mississippi. Mateo won the 63rd Waialae Women’s Invitational earlier in the month and is playing the 89th Ladies National Golf Association Amateur Championship this week in Tennessee.

>> Shawn Lu, who won last year’s OCC Men’s Invitational, captured Hawaii’s only qualifying spot for the 119th U.S. Amateur Championship, which drew nearly 7,200 entries.

>> At Ko Olina, Marie Miyashiro and Agnes Yamauchi won the Hawaii qualifier for the 58th U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur. The national championship is Aug. 24-29 in Iowa. Hawaii’s Patricia Ehrhart is exempt after reaching the semifinals in 2017 and the quarters last year.

>> Ehrhart’s daughter, Scarlett Schremmer, took 10th in the Girls 10-12 flight of the Optimist Junior Championship earlier last month in Miami. Wednesday’s final round for the oldest age groups (16-18) found Hawaii state high school runner-up Tagiralani Luafalealo finishing a shot out of first for the girls and Irei getting third for the boys, five shots back.

>> Kealakekua’s John Shaw fired 75 at Waikele last week to beat out 13 others and earn Hawaii’s only qualifying spot for the 65th U.S. Senior Amateur in North Carolina. Shaw was a shot better than Mike Kawate and Paul Kimura, who are alternates.

>> Mililani’s Kady Matsumoto (T12 Girls 9-10) and Laie’s Neal Manutai (T15 Boys 7-8) were the only Hawaii golfers to finish top 20 at last month’s Junior World Championships in San Diego. Players from 56 countries participated.