Thursday, July 22, 1999

By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Ben Hongo blasts out of a bunker on the fifth hole during the
Aloha Section Four-Ball PGA Match Play championship at the
Oahu Country Club. He and partner, John Rose, beat David
Ishii and David Chin for the title.

Rose and Hongo take
PGA Match Play title

By Bill Kwon
Star-Bulletin

Kapalua Bay pros John Rose and Ben Hongo might want to file for some overtime.

They went 20 holes to beat defending champions David Ishii and David Chin, 1-up, to win the Aloha Section PGA Four-Ball Match Play Championship yesterday at the Oahu Country Club.

That was after Rose and Hongo had defeated Kirk Nelson and Brian Sasada, 1-up, after a one-hole playoff in the morning semifinals.

"It was a long day," said Hongo, who had to report to work early this morning. "I don't think we're going to have a day off."

A birdie by Rose at the par-5 second hole finally ended the match as neither Ishii nor Chin could make a putt.

"I haven't been putting well, but today was exceptionally bad," said Ishii, taking a month break from the Japan PGA Tour.

An example was the par-3 seventh hole, where he missed a three-footer for a birdie. Still, he and Chin, an assistant pro at Navy-Marine, won the hole when Hongo and Rose three-putted for bogeys.

That enabled Ishii and Chin to remain 1-up until the 17th hole, when Rose made a great up-and-down for a birdie 3 to even the match after Ishii's five-foot birdie putt lipped out.

"I guess it's only every even year for us," said Chin. He and Ishii won the match-play title in 1994, 1996 and 1998.

For Rose and Hongo, two thirtysomething guys, this could be the start of a beautiful partnership as they shared the $1,600 top prize.

It's the first time they've partnered in four-ball play, according to Rose, who dropped a 25-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to extend the semifinal match.

Hongo's 12-foot birdie putt won it on the first playoff hole against Nelson and Sasada.