Not that he's old folks, mind you. He's just 35. But Kop is cementing his claim as one of the best golfers around locally after his 10-stroke victory in the State Amateur Stroke Play Championship yesterday at the Pearl Country Club.
Figuring par golf was good enough with a seven-stroke lead going into the final round, Kop shot just that for a 72-hole score of 281.
Tied for second at a distant 291 were Mike Pavao, Neal Takara and Mark Takahama. Larry Stubblefield shot the day's best round, a 2-under 70, to finish tied for third at 293 with Paul Kimura.
Pavao, a senior on the University of Hawaii golf team, played in the last group with Kop and said it was simply impossible to catch the runaway winner.
"To make up seven strokes on Brandan is hard because he's so solid. After a while, you just get caught up watching him," said Pavao, who had a final-round 75.
It was also difficult playing well with that kind of lead, according to Kop.
"It's hard. I was hitting my irons well all week and maybe better today. But I had 35 putts."
Kop said he found himself lagging his first putts because a score of par was good enough.
"You just don't want to look silly going too far by or hitting your putts too hard."
Two of his two-putts were for birdies at the par-5 first and 17th holes. One of his one-putts was a 10-footer for birdie at the par-3 16th.
His long irons paid off at the par-3 third and 13th holes which he played 4-under for the tournament.
It was Kop's second State Amateur Stroke Play championship. He won it 16 years ago as a sophomore on the UH golf team.
Is he a better player now?
"You manage the game better when you're older," says Kop, a golf distributor who doesn't practice as often as he used to or would like to. "I spend less time practicing, but I practice the correct things, what I need to work on."
The low amateur in last month's Hawaii Pearl Open, Kop plans on playing in more tournaments. He will definitely defend the two open championships he won last year - the Mid-Pacific Open and the Sports Shinko Rainbow Open.