Waianea's Alvin Okada shot a 6-under 138 over two rounds to win the Oahu Interscholastic Association boys championship.
Okada, Choy win
OIA golf titles
Pearl City wins the boys team
title, while Roosevelt takes home
the girls team trophy
The right wrist of Alvin Okada picked a bad time to flare up.
There were moments when the senior golfer from Waianae, whose grandmother died on Sunday, wondered if he would be able to play through the pain en route to winning his second consecutive Oahu Interscholastic Association boys title.
The tender tendons had caused Okada problems off and on all year. But after an uneventful nine holes, the 10th almost proved to be his undoing yesterday on the Fazio Course at the Turtle Bay Resort.
"I went after my drive and I heard something click," he said.
From that point, Okada bogeyed three consecutive holes. On his approach at No. 4 -- he began his round on the back nine -- he stopped his swing midway, yelled in agony and dropped the club, clutching his right wrist. He still managed to birdie the hole and make par on the fifth before getting his wrist taped at No. 6, where he settled for par.
More problems headed his way at the seventh, where he hit his tee shot out of bounds, resulting in a bogey.
"I knew on the seventh I couldn't make it alone. I lost focus until the seventh hole. I realized I was giving away my lead," he said.
Okada was able to right the ship at the par-3 eighth, where he hit his tee shot to within 12 feet of the hole.
"It took a dive and went in," Okada said of the birdie putt. "She (his grandmother) helped me on that, I was thinking."
He parred the last hole to finish with a final-round 72. Coming off last week's 66 in the opening round at Makaha, he finished at 6-under 138 to break the OIA record.
"He had it going here, but he hurt his wrist and had to fight through it," Waianae coach Marc Smith said.
Okada was 4 under on his first nine holes until aggravating the injury. He gave all of those shots back with a 4-over 40 over the final nine holes.
Still, Okada finished six strokes ahead of Pearl City's sterling freshman, Michael Sato, who helped the Chargers capture the boys title with a 602 total. The Chargers topped runner-up Castle by 12 strokes. Sean Abreu, C.J. Balboa, Kevin Katano and Brandon Myers rounded out the winning Pearl City squad.
Okada may well have been the busiest golfer over the past two weeks. He competed in the four-round Mid-Pacific tourney last weekend before the opening round of the OIAs. This past weekend, he competed in a two-round event, the Amatour.
"He wants to qualify for the Governor's Cup," Smith said.
Okada has an offer to play golf at Hawaii-Hilo.
Leilehua's Britney Choy watched her drive on the ninth tee during yesterday's final round of the OIA Championships at Turtle Bay Resort.
"I struggled to shoot 73," she said. "I think I played well, but on a few holes, I lost focus."
Choy's familiarity with the course didn't help. The usual gusts were nowhere to be found. Instead, Kona winds and heat left her dehydrated.
"I didn't drink enough water. I had to force myself to eat something," the junior said.
Choy shot a 68 on the same course last year.
"I felt like I played a good round, but in golf, you can always do better," she said.
Roosevelt won the girls team title with a combined total of 501. Ha'aheo Manini-Hewlen shot a 159 to lead her team. Malia Jaruis, Natalie Nakamine and Nancy Shon rounded out the scoring. The Rough Riders edged Aiea by four strokes for the win.
[News] [Business] [Features] [Sports] [Editorial] [Do It Electric!]
[Classified Ads] [Search] [Subscribe] [Info] [Letter to Editor]
[Feedback]
