Tribune-Herald On a windy day at Waikoloa Kings’ Course, University of Hawaii at Hilo coach Earl Tamiya said the top-ranked golfers in the field handled the conditions “as advertised.” ADVERTISING He just as well could have been talking about the
Tribune-Herald
On a windy day at Waikoloa Kings’ Course, University of Hawaii at Hilo coach Earl Tamiya said the top-ranked golfers in the field handled the conditions “as advertised.”
He just as well could have been talking about the University of Hawaii-Manoa’s T.J. Kua. The senior carded a 4-under 68 to tie for the low score Thursday to stay in contention heading into the final round of the Ameri Ari Invitational.
Kua dropped to 6-under through two rounds and was three shots behind UCLA’s Pontus Widegren. Widegren (69), a first-round co-leader, fell off slightly after opening with a 66 but still hung tough to get to 9-under and led by a stroke.
Changing wind directions and speed made the second round more challenging for most golfers.
“Tougher conditions,” Tamiya said. “Nobody took it to the course out there today.”
Fourteen golfers shot 68 or lower Wednesday, but only Kua and Arizona State’s Austin Quick managed the feat Thursday.
The threesome at 8-under included Stanford’s Patrick Rodgers (69), the No. 3-ranked amateur player in the world and one of seven top-10 college players at the event. USC’s Jeffrey Kang and Texas’s Toni Hakula also shot 69.
Tamiya said his Vulcans golfers settled down a bit after fighting nerves in the first round.
Defending Pacific West Conference champion Blake Snyder led to way for UHH, getting to 1-under after a 71. Travis Russell also shot a 71 and was at 1-over.
“Everybody left a lot out there (Wednesday), so today was a lot easier to be more aggressive and get ahead of yourself,” Russell said. “It was a little bit windier today but the greens were still great.
“Being patient out there was the biggest thing.”
The Longhorns (557) retained the team lead, although the Bruins inched within three shots.
Jaime Hall (73, 4-over), Chris Shimomura (78, 7-over) and Nick Matsushima (76, 13-over) also competed for UHH (585), which was 18th in the 20-team field.
“We did all right,” Tamiya said. “We didn’t exactly take advantage of our home-course advantage, but this should help us down the road and make us better when we’re competing in (Division II) tournaments.”
Warriors sophomore Nainoa Calip, a 2010 Kamehameha-Hawaii graduate, shot his second consecutive 73, but UH was only two strokes ahead of UHH in 14th.
Freshman Dalen Yamauchi (78), a Waiakea graduate and one of five UHH golfers to compete individually, was at 8-over.
The other two first-round co-leaders were Patrick Grimes of Stanford and Washington’s Cheng-Tsung Pan. Grimes slumped to a 75, while Pan (71) was two shots behind Widegren.
Today’s shotgun start begins at 7:30 a.m.
The University of Hawaii at Hilo contributed to this report.
