Two hours after Corey Kozuma’s come-from-behind victory Saturday at the Barbers Point Invitational, he was working with the Top Dawgs junior program at Pearl Country Club.

Call it the circle of golf life.

Kozuma is closing a memorable junior and amateur career as he heads into his final semester at University of Hawaii Hilo. He won a state high school team championship at ‘Iolani and was the Vulcans’ male Athlete of the Year as a senior.

He also has a golf bag full of top finishes to back up his hopes and dreams of a successful professional career starting next year.

Recalling what happened at Barbers Point the past three days will provide inspiration.

Kozuma fired a 4-under-par 68 Friday to give himself a chance. He went into the final round three shots back of Bill Walbert, now retired from the Army and working as a physician’s assistant at Tripler.

Kozuma bogeyed two of the first three holes on Saturday, then rallied to overtake Walbert before they made the turn. He held off Moanalua High junior Kyosuke Hara by one shot.

"At first, I was playing a little too safe," Kozuma admitted. "I was not being as aggressive as I should have. My mind-set had to change, especially after I bogeyed (Nos.) 1 and 3. I know how strong the field is — all the guys in front — so I knew I had to step up my game.

"This was a great confidence booster. I’ve been working hard on my game this summer. I’m done with college golf now and I definitely want to try and get to the next level. I know I have a lot of work to do and this is a step in the right direction."

Kozuma closed with a 73 for a 215 total. Hara overcame a pair of double-bogeys, but couldn’t overcome Kozuma, also shooting 73 to finish a shot back.

Hara, who chipped in for eagle at the ninth, traced that shot to the 17th.

"I made bogey from 7 yards," he said. "I went at the pin, hit too much and it went through. I had a downhill chip shot coming back and couldn’t really hit it. I want to re-do that shot."

Kozuma, 6 under on the par-5s the final two days, was playing in the last group. He might have hit what he considered the winning shot about the same moment Hara was having his regrets.

"On the par-3 eighth, I hit a hybrid off the tee — it was 230 yards into the wind," Kozuma recalled. "I blew it past the green next to the cart path. I took a (free) drop, so I was short-sided and downwind and hit this perfect flop shot. It hit the fringe and trickled to 3 feet to make par.

"I thought then, if I pull this off today this is definitely the turnaround point. I kept the momentum going my way because I had just birdied the seventh. That was really big for me."

The win was really big. Kozuma and playing partner Nainoa Calip, the Manoa Cup champ who just finished his collegiate career at UH, talked while they waited for the two groups ahead to finish the final hole.

Neither knew exactly where they stood and Calip, who finished fourth behind Tyler Ota, helped Kozuma pass the time by keeping him from thinking about the present.

"I was trying really hard not to project and think about the end result," Kozuma recalled. "I had Nainoa with me, so we talked about something other than golf — anything but golf. We talked about school and what comes after. It kind of helped me to settle down."

What comes after has been on Kozuma’s mind often as he closes in on his December degree in business marketing.

"We’ve been doing this so long," he says of amateur golf. "Just to have it stop, after all those years … it’s hard. It’s been our lives — how many hours? — so we definitely want see how far we can get."

John Mun captured A Flight by six shots, finishing at 73—224.

Clifford Nishikawa (80—236) won B Flight by nine and Sydney Maluenda (82—251) won the two-person Ladies Flight.