Mid-Pacific Open champion Casey Nakama watches his putt.
Photo by Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin

Start calling him Greg - as in Norman - that's what.

"We were calling him 'Greg' in a kidding way, but it didn't bother him," said Dan Nishimoto, who finished four strokes back behind Casey Nakama in the Mid-Pacific Open yesterday.

Nakama, who represents Olomana Links, shot a 1-over-par 73 to finish with a 72-hole score of 281 for the $5,000 top prize. Nishimoto also posted a 73 to wind up at 285, earning $3,190.

"Nobody made a move, so I could stick with my game plan, not being too aggressive and seeing what happens," said Nakama, who posted his first victory since the 1994 Hilo Open.

"This is the big one I wanted. I wanted to win here," said Nakama, who also won the 1992 Maui Open and the 1987 State Open.

He opened with back-to-back 69s at the par-72 Mid-Pacific Country Club golf course in Lanikai and never looked back.

"I made a lot of putts and the key to Mid-Pac is putting," Nakama said.

Nakama might have made a lot of putts, but THE putt of the day - and the tournament - came at the 189-yard, par-3 14th hole when he sank a 60-footer for a birdie.

"All I was trying to do was two-putt," said Nakama, who admitted he felt a little pressure at the start of the round. He saw Norman in the Masters, too.

"I kind of relaxed after I got a birdie on five and made a good shot on 6," Nakama added.

Still, he knew that a lot of strokes could be lost at Mid-Pac's answer to "Amen Corner" - the 13th, 14th and 15th holes.

He bogeyed the dog-leg right, uphill 15th when a young pine tree hindered his second shot. But that monster 60-footer the hole before enabled Nakama to play the three holes in even par.

"That was a big swing," said Kevin Hayashi about Nakama's long putt.

It proved to be a two-stroke swing as Hayashi bogeyed the 14th.

"Casey played well all week. I think the closest any of us got was four strokes," said Hayashi, the Hilo Municipal pro who finished third at 287. He also shot a final-round 73 but bogeys at 14, 15 and 16 cost him a chance to finish with the day's low round.

Keith Kollmeyer, the first-round leader, and amateur Guy Yamamoto tied for fourth at 289 with Mark Takahama, who was playing his first tournament as a professional.

Takahama finished with a 74 as a bogey at 17 and a double-bogey 6 at 18 after his second shot went out of bounds marred a sub-par round.