[GOLF]

CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM After entering yesterday's final round with a three-stroke lead, Regan Lee won the Rainbow Open by four.

Lee slams the door
for 4-stroke victory

The Gateway Tour player shows
he can close, sinking a 60-foot eagle
putt after his lead dwindled to 2

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By Grady Timmons
Special to the Star-Bulletin

Just when it looked liked he might go down for the count yesterday at the Mililani Golf Club, Regan Lee stopped the bleeding and delivered a knockout putt to capture the 29th annual Rainbow Open.

Holding on to a tenuous two-stroke lead when he reached the par-5 16th hole, Lee did what you have to do to win golf tournaments -- he holed a 60-foot putt for eagle.

The deciding blow, which came on the heels of two consecutive three-putts, halted a slide that dropped him four shots in the previous three holes and propelled him to his second local Open title in three months.

For the record, Lee shot a 73 to go with a pair of 68s on Friday and Saturday for a 7-under-par 209. That was good for a first-place check of $5,000 and a four-shot win over fellow pro Beau Yokomoto (70), Army golfer Chad Saladin (72) and amateur Phil Chun (73), all of whom finished at 213.

Lance Suzuki (69) and Ivan Cunningham (72) were another shot back at 214, while Deron Doi (72) and Kevin Hayashi (75) finished at 215.

CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM Regan Lee received $5,000 for winning the Rainbow Open.

"I was just trying to lag the putt and it happened to go in," Lee said of his miraculous eagle. "Beyond the cup, the green slopes downhill, so I knew if I hit it too hard it might roll to the back of the green. It was a lucky putt, but it gave me a four-shot lead and the confidence I needed to win."

Lee, who won the Mid-Pacific Open in April, had a three-shot advantage over Chun when the day began. Playing the back side first, he carded a 37 going out, picking up two more shots on Chun despite hitting into the water and making bogey at the par-4 15th, his sixth hole of the day.

That's because Chun triple-bogeyed the same hole, hitting into a lateral hazard, from which he elected to play and had trouble recovering. Six holes later, Lee drilled a 2-iron to within 6 feet at the 211-yard, par-3 third hole (his 12th hole), and then made the birdie putt to take a seemingly insurmountable six-stroke advantage over Chun.

But that's when Chun put on his rally cap, scoring a birdie at the next hole to regain a shot. At the 386-yard, par-4 5th (his 14th hole), he made another birdie, while Lee three-putted. Suddenly, Lee's lead was only three.

At the sixth hole, a 165-yard, downhill par-3, Lee three-putted again, while Chun stuck a 7-iron to within 6 feet of the hole -- only to miss a birdie putt that would have pulled him to within one.

"If I would have made that putt, who knows what might have happened," Chun said. "When Regan made the putt for eagle at the next hole, it pretty much closed the door."

Yokomoto and Saladin, Lee's other closest pursuers, never got any closer than Chun. Playing up ahead, Yokomoto birdied his 15th and 16th holes, only to bogey the next hole and finish at 2-under 70. Saladin, meanwhile, began the day with three consecutive bogeys and had to fight to get back to even par for the round.

Lee, whose late grandfather, Guinea Kop, used to teach at the Mililani Golf Club, made a special trip from Arizona, where he is playing on the Gateway Tour, to compete in the Rainbow Open. Last night, he returned to Arizona, where he will play in a series of mini-tour events through the end of September.

"To be able to hold a lead and win is nice, although I had to play a little more conservative today because of where they put the pin placements," Lee said. "There was also a little luck involved."

Said Chun: "Regan played steady, smart golf. And he made the big putt when he needed it."

He certainly did.