Ann Miller: Hawaii golf had its own madness in March

One of golf’s most endearing and excruciating traits is that you never know what to expect. Every round is unique. For many of us, every shot is a surprise.

March was like that for golf in Hawaii.

Stuff we never saw coming happened — to 80-year olds, 18-year olds, 8-year olds.

A guy played 500 holes in five days on five islands and lived to tell about it.

Another, visiting from a city made famous by a 1970 song, aced a par-4.

Let’s look back at Hawaii’s March Golf Madness …

Berning inducted

After a COVID-19- induced wait so long she turned 80, longtime Kona resident Susie Berning was inducted into the 2021 (yes, that’s right) World Golf Hall of Fame.

With Tiger Woods.

Their delayed induction means that now all 12 golfers who have won three or more U.S. Opens are in the HOF. The group also includes Mickey Wright, Jack Nicklaus and Annika Sorenstam.

Berning, a 5-foot-2 horse lover from Oklahoma, won four majors and 11 LPGA tournaments overall. At the induction she called daughters — and Hawaii Prep graduates — Cindy and Robin her “fifth and sixth majors.”

When the girls got old enough, the trio toured together in the summers. The girls caddied for their mother and another player each week. Tuesdays and Wednesdays they played tourists.

“I always thought that having my own family on tour was not just a blessing, but it was an advantage,” Berning said at her induction. “No matter how the round went, I was mom first. My priorities were always to make sure their day went well and to spend time with them, to show and teach them that their goals are worth going after, that tough competition can happen in a loving environment.”

Believe me now?

When the Rainbow Wahine won their first two tournaments last fall, behind medalists Hana Mirnik and Momo Sugiyama, it felt good. But the quality of the opposition was in question, especially after they were last at the annual Pac-12 Preview at Nanea Golf Club.

Hawaii has answered questions heading into next week’s Big West Championship, rising to 76th nationally — its highest ranking since 2008.

After finishing third at The Gold Rush March 1, UH was five shots from winning its first Donnis Thompson Invitational since 1986 at Hoakalei a week later.

Two weeks ago, it went wire-to-wire to capture the Fresno State Classic by 16. The 15-team field included seven from the BWC and two Pac-12. Hawaii shot a program-record 1-over-par 865, going 6 under — another team record — the final day.

Sugiyama, a freshman from Australia, took second with the lowest 54-hole score in program history (5-under 211). It was her sixth Top 5 this season. Mayumi Umezu, a freshman from Waimea, fired a career low for fifth.

“All year, we have talked about raising the bar in everything we do and becoming the first team in UH history to win the Big West Conference Championship,” says UH Coach Stephen Bidne says. “I truly believe this team has bought into the mindset and process of what we will have to do and what it will take in order to achieve such.”

Sugiyama (No. 224, 73.7 scoring average) and Mirnik (345, 74.9), a junior from Slovenia, are among the Top 500 in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin individual rankings. Biden says Golfstat ranked UH’s six-member freshman class seventh in the country.

The 501st hole

Aloha Section PGA put fundraising on pandemic hold the past two years out of respect for its suffering sponsors. ASPGA President David Havens broke out big time last month.

From March 21-25, Havens played 100 holes a day with fellow pros at five golf courses (Hokuala, Turtle Bay, Hualalai, King Kamehameha and Manele) on five islands in a unique fundraiser.

“I got to raise a few bucks. Not as much as I would have liked, but show how I can help this section in ways other than just talk,” said Havens, who hit golf balls 20 miles in the quest. “Playing that many holes was overly exhausting mentally and physically. Two times out there I could not tell my hands what to do when swinging. I hit some of the most awful shots ever. I still made 94 birdies and nine eagles.”

The “Spare Aloha 500” asked for donations to support Aloha Section Foundation’s mission of growth through golf, and its 236 members and apprentices across the state’s 90 facilities.

Donations can still be made, at Havens’ non-profit Spare for Change website (spareforchange.org, Events link) or by sending a check to Havens at Spare for Change, 470 Lipoa Parkway, Kihei, HI 96753. For more information, call 808-298-8012 or email David@spareforchange.org.

Albatross sighting

A year after finishing second, 17-year-old Niall Shiels Donegan, from Mill Valley, Calif., captured the 59th Hawaii State Amateur Stroke Play Championship at Leilehua.

He won by seven, inspired by a rare — estimated odds 6 million to 1 — hole-in-one on the par-FOUR, 310-yard eighth hole opening day. Leilehua’s wind inspired him to club up to a driver.

“I couldn’t really believe it because I was coming off a double bogey just earlier,” said Donegan. “I was really happy about it and I used that momentum to carry myself through the rest of the tournament. … It is an experience I will never forget.”

Also that weekend, Kalani junior Kara Kaneshiro extended her winning streak to three in a row by beating buddy Raya Nakao in a playoff for the Women’s championship.

Kaneshiro, last year’s HSJGA Girls 15-18 Player of the Year, also won the Women’s Army Invitational at Leilehua. She followed that with a victory in the HSGA Four-Ball, partnering with Nakao.

Last year, Nakao and Kaneshiro finished second and third to Aneka Seumanutafa at the 70th Jennie K. Invitational. The 71st is next month at Mid-Pacific Country Club.

Kids tee off at Ala Wai

The iconic, often overwhelmed Ala Wai driving range re-opened last month as Ala Wai Golf Center, with its own logo and run by a bunch of kids … kind of.

Hawaii State Junior Golf Association and new partner First Tee Hawaii are now based in a trailer at the range after working out a public-private partnership with the City and County of Honolulu to run the range. They took over last month and hope to have a grand opening next month.

They also ordered 75,000 new Callaway range balls (some still aren’t here due to supply chain problems) to replace the dimple-decimated ones of years gone by, along with new mats and a range picker machine. Renovations for the golf shop, ball dispensing building and short game area — there is now a 28,000-square foot putting green — are going on.

“They are killing it financially and kids are everywhere,” says Maui broadcaster Mark Rolfing, who helped put the deal together and envisions Ala Wai as the hub of Hawaii golf. “It’s just packed and they run out of balls.”

Next stop, Hoakalei

The LPGA announced it will celebrate its 10th Lotte Championship in Hawaii at Hoakalei Country Club in Ewa Beach, after spending the first eight years at Ko Olina and last year at Kapolei. The $2 million tournament is next week (April 13-16).

Lydia Ko will defend her championship in front of spectators this year. Danielle Kang, Ariya Jutanugarn, Inbee Park and two-time champion Brooke Henderson are also on the final commitment list, along with Hawaii’s Allisen Corpuz.

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Reach Ann Miller at tiserannie@hotmail.com.