T.J. Kua Wins the Hawaii Amateur Stroke Play Championship

3/15/2010 | by

2010 Hawaii Stroke Play champion<br>(808golf.com photo)

University of Hawaii sophomore T.J. Kua wins the Hawaii Stroke Play Championship, his second major state amateur title

AIEA, HI (March 14, 2010)--Not bad for a first-timer ... sort of.

While coming up through high school and early in his college career, T.J. Kua's school and golf schedule kept him from competing for the Hawaii State Amateur Stroke Play Championship.

The four-day tournament finally fell into a favorable window this year and Kua claimed the title in his first appearance in the event.

Kua, a University of Hawaii sophomore, wasn't all that thrilled with shooting 2-over-par 74 in yesterday's final round at Pearl Country Club. But it was enough to add the state stroke-play title to the match-play crown he captured last summer by winning the Manoa Cup.

"I was thinking last night if there are any majors in Hawaii as far as amateur tournaments, it would be Manoa Cup and this tournament," Kua said. "So I was really excited."

Kua began the day with a five-shot lead over Bradley Shigezawa and closed the tournament with a four-round total of 5-under 283.

Shigezawa birdied the first hole as he tried to make a run at Kua yesterday. But back-to-back bogeys sapped his momentum and the Punahou senior settled for a 73 to end the weekend at 1-under 287.

"I had some pretty sloppy errors on the front nine," Shigezawa said. "I couldn't get the speed of the greens down early enough. The greens slowed down from yesterday and I had a hard time adjusting."

The rest of the field couldn't make a move either, with only two players shooting rounds of even par. Kamehameha senior Alika Bell's 72 was enough to give him sole possession of third.

Kua didn't play in the state amateur while at Kamehameha to help minimize the amount of class time he missed during the high school golf season, and last year's tournament conflicted with a UH road trip.

With a break in the Rainbow Warriors' schedule this spring, he entered the tournament and built a comfortable lead through the first three days.

While Kua didn't exactly sprint away from the field yesterday, he managed to hold his ground throughout the afternoon, avoiding the level of pressure he endured while sweating out a 1-up duel with Layne Morita in last year's Manoa Cup final.

After his drive at No. 10 went into the rough, his second shot struck a tree limb and dropped about 30 feet in front of him. But he cozied his third shot close to the pin and made the putt to save par.

He encountered another hiccup on the par-3 16th, when his tee shot drifted left, hit a cart path and shot across the fairway, rolling into a pond. After carding his second double bogey of the day, he hit his drive on No. 17 into the trees on the left side. He then drilled a low shot that rolled onto the green, putting him in position for a two-putt birdie.

He closed with a par on No. 18 to seal it.

"I was scrambling a whole lot today, and to come out with a reasonably decent score is OK," Kua said.

"I wanted to come in with four rounds not over par, but I didn't really do so well. But it was relieving to know I had a lead."

Final results of the Hawaii Amateur Stroke Play Championship, played March 11-14, 2010 at Pearl Golf Club:

Rank	Player Name		Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Total
1	T.J.	Kua	72	69	68	74	283
2	Bradley	Shigezawa	71	72	71	73	287
3	Alika	Bell	79	67	74	72	292
4	Kazuya	Koura	75	74	70	74	293
5	Jonathan	Ota	74	74	70	77	295
T6	Zady	Ari	74	72	71	79	296
	Isamu	Fujii	73	75	72	76	296
T8	Matthew	Ma	72	74	77	74	297
	Grant	Natori	78	73	73	73	297
10	Brandan	Kop	77	73	73	75	298
11	David	Saka	72	74	76	78	300
12	Brett	Komoto	67	79	78	78	302
T13	John	Oda	78	79	71	75	303
	Kazuo	Sato	72	74	83	74	303
15	Samuel	Rodriguez III	77	77	73	78	305
T16	Tatsuro	Kaneko	76	74	76	80	306
	Kyle	Kunioka	75	75	77	79	306
	Takayuki	Wada	77	79	76	74	306
T19	Lorens	Chan	78	73	71	85	307
	Chase	Bingham	81	75	73	78	307
	Seung	Jae Maeng	81	74	75	77	307
T22	Mike	Kawate	77	76	75	80	308
	Masamichi	Momose	77	78	73	80	308
	Donny	Hopoi	77	75	78	78	308
25	Phillip	Anamizu	76	77	78	78	309
26	Patrick	Hawthorne	76	74	88	72	310
27	Todd	Rego	75	75	81	80	311
T28	Hunter	Larson	71	80	76	85	312
	Brian	Lee	77	76	81	78	312
	Corey	Kozuma	75	80	82	75	312
	Jared	Sawada	79	78	80	75	312
32	Reo	Saito	79	77	77	80	313
33	Martin	Black	79	77	78	80	314
T34	Kalena	Preus	78	75	84	79	316
	Bou-An	Fujieki	81	75	81	79	316
36	Allisen	Corpuz	75	76	84	82	317
T37	David	Long	78	78	76	86	318
	Ken	Maeda	78	78	78	84	318
39	Joey	Sakaue	76	80	86	79	321
T40	Richie	Ingalls	78	73	82	90	323
	Philip	Delisi	79	77	78	89	323
CUT
T42	Paul	Kimura	77	81			158
	Tyler	Ota	77	81			158
	KC	Botelho	82	76			158
T45	Cole	Yamane	80	79			159
	Randy	Yim	80	79			159
	Isaac	Jaffurs	81	78			159
	Jared	Flores	84	75			159
T49	Michael	Fan	78	82			160
	Sam	Pratt	78	82			160
	Steve	Nonies	78	82			160
	Patrick	Murakami	80	80			160
	Cannen	Shaw	81	79			160
	Brendon	Chun	82	78			160
	Allan	Kuaana	83	77			160
T56	Koji	Tezuka	79	82			161
	Kyle	Yawata	79	82			161
	Jacob	Mikulik	80	81			161
	Steven	Stock	82	79			161
	Jon	Scolari	84	77			161
T61	Shigeru	Matsui	77	85			162
	Timothy	Galvan	80	82			162
	Chris	DeAlmeida	81	81			162
	David	Hamada	82	80			162
	George	Obana Jr.	86	76			162
T66	Eimi	Koga	81	82			163
	Robert	Collins	81	82			163
	Clesson	Pang	82	81			163
	Jared	Kato	82	81			163
	Lee	Sakugawa	83	80			163
	Kyle	Hayashi	84	79			163
72	Tyler	Welling	79	85			164
T73	Daniel	Skellan	81	84			165
	Hiroshi	Kimura	81	84			165
	Toshikazu	Igarashi	84	81			165
	Zachary	Nadamoto	81	85			166
	Toshimitsu	Akamatsu	82	84			166
	Clive	Kegel	84	82			166
	Neal	Iverson	86	80			166
80	Galvin	Fujii	89	83			172
81	Andy	Toth	89	85			174
82	Beau	Belbas	91	85			176
	Shuichi	Udagawa	79	DQ			DQ
	Shunichi	Kasuya	92	DQ			DQ
	Scott	Hayashi	81	WD			WD
	Travis	Liu	87	WD			WD
	Rinko	Kurokawa	WD				WD

About the Hawaii State Amateur

72-hole stroke play championship, with Men's Open, Men's Mid-Amateur, and Women's Open divisions. Golfers are required to be a member of the Hawaii State Golf Association and a USGA Licensed Club.

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