Chan Kim, Blaze Akana and Hunter Larson all had rough opening rounds at the Sony Open in Hawaii on Thursday at Waialae Country Club.
Among the trio of players who attended high school in Hawaii, Kim had the best round with a 5 over through 16 holes, which was tied for 132nd in the 144-player field.
Akana is tied for 141st after carding a 7 over through 15 holes, and Larson is last after completing his round at 18 over.
“It was pretty brutal out there,” said Akana, one of two amateurs in the event. “I tried to manage my game and I just couldn’t really score today. I got three holes in the morning, so hopefully I can finish out the round strong.”
Cam Davis is the leader after shooting an 8-under 62.
Kim (Kaimuki), Akana (Kamehameha) and Larson (Kealakehe) qualified for the PGA Tour’s first full-field event of the season through different means. Kim earned his PGA Tour card by finishing second on the Korn Ferry Tour, Akana won November’s Sony Open qualifier at Waialae and Larson claimed the 2023 Aloha Section PGA sectional championship.
Kim, who won the 2006 HHSAA boys golf championship as a Kaimuki sophomore, moved to Arizona the following year.
Players had to deal with Kona winds on Thursday rather than the normal trade winds that blow in from the northeast.
“I have never played it in a west wind like this,” Larson said.
Said Akana: “It’s a totally different course from when I had practice here leading up to the event. It made the course a little more challenging.”
The round was suspended at about 6:05 p.m. due to darkness and rain with only a few groups still on the course.
Kim, Akana and Larson each teed off in the afternoon, with Akana and Larson starting on the first hole, and Kim opening on the 10th.
Kim birdied his first hole, then bogeyed his second and eighth to make the turn at 1-over 35.
On the par-4 No. 1 hole, Kim three-putted for a double-bogey. He bogeyed Nos. 13, 14 and 15 before birding the 16th.
Akana, a UH senior, bogeyed Nos. 1, 3, 7 and 8 before making his first birdie at No. 9. He then bogeyed the 10th, 12th, 13th and 14th.
Akana hit his tee shot on No. 16 behind a tree before a horn went off signaling the stoppage of play. He will pick up his second round from that spot.
“It was really rainy, windy conditions,” Akana said. “Rough stuff. It was pretty tough. Just have to get my swing down tomorrow morning.”
Larson, a golf pro at Nanea Club, was 10 over through seven holes. He birdied No. 8, then bogeyed No. 9 to make the turn at 45. He bogeyed No. 12, had a quadruple-bogey 8 on No. 14 and took a triple-bogey 7 on No. 15. He finished up with a birdie on the 17th and a bogey on the 18th.
Larson is playing in the Sony Open for the first time.
“I was trying to just get the ball to stay on the tee, to be honest with you,” he said. “I was a little bit nervous in that regard.”
Kim and Akana are playing in the Sony Open for the second time. Kim played on a sponsor’s exemption in 2022 and missed the cut by four strokes, while Akana won the same Sony qualifier and missed the cut by five shots last year.
