Change of venue proved difficult at the Waikele Classic
Makaha, HI - In a suprising twist of events, the Makaha Resort Golf Course hosted the 2011 Waikele Classic. However, this change proved most difficult for many of the players. Many of the TOUR players were not able to take advantage of the lengthy course and especially it's meandering back nine. Only a few players rose above the challenge to claim their position on top the leaderboard.
The Championship flight went out first on Saturday afternoon, and Tour veterans Dennis Harrison and Casey Kimura didn't waste much time getting right in the mix. Casey got off to a fast start with a birdies on the first hole before giving it back with consecutive bogeys on 2 & 3. Dennis Harrison showed the most consistency on the front nine, putting up 7 pars and 2 bogeys on his way to a front nine 38. Casey Kimura trailed closely behind the leader, staying within 2 strokes at the turn. Newcomer, Adam Delph, started out the day very shaky with 3 bogeys, 1 double bogey, and 1 triple bogey in the first 5 holes. However, Adam managed to fix his problems quickly putting up 3 birdies and only 2 bogeys in the next 12 holes. That was good enought to put him into a tie for 1st going into the 18 hole, but it wasn't to be for him. In the end, it was Jim Mansell who snuck up on everyone and shot a near perfect back nine to come back from 4 strokes down to win by 2 strokes over playing partner, Adam Delph on the final hole.
In the Hogan flight, seasoned veteran, Andy Sulzer, showed off his consistency throughout most of round until finding trouble on the 17 & 18 holes. Greg Duldulao put up a good fight pulling even with Andy through the first nine holes, but wasn't able keep up as Andy pulled away from the rest of the competition. Uniquely enough, even with a 5 stroke lead going into the last two holes, Andy wasn't able to completely slam the door on the rest of the competition. Thankfully, his lead was large enough to overcome closing double bogey, double bogey on the final 2 holes. In the end, Andy Sulzer, won the Hogan flight by 2 strokes over Greg Duldulao.
The Senior Hogan flight played very closely and at one point seemed like no one wanted to step forward and claim the trophy. Craig Gallagher looked to have things in control shooting the lowest 9 hole score of the day, making the turn in 3-over 39. But it was not meant to be for Craig, as he finished his back nine with 3 bogeys, 3 double bogeys, and 1 triple bogey. Eventually Craig ended up finishing in 5th place overall. Jim Cummings was the next person poised to have a chance at winning the Waikele Classic outright, but then Jim also struggled heavily coming down the stretch. The only person really taking advantage of all the mistakes of the others was Lawrence Scott who finished the back nine with only 3 bogeys to tie Jim Cummings in the clubhouse. After 18 holes of competition, Jim and Lawrence needed a sudden playoff to determine the winner. Jim Cummings edged out Lawrence Scott.
The Sarazen flight wasn't as closely contested as the others, with Michael Nishikawa, taking the early lead in the first nine holes and he never looked back. Michael finished the tournament in 1st place, winning by a total of 6 strokes over Rey Garo and Edward Medeiros, both of whom were tied for 2nd place.
In similar fashion, the Jones flight was another overwhelming victory by a young veteran, Joshua Poirier. Joshua led after the front nine, posting a front nine score of 5-over 41. His play continued to improve on the back nine as he shot a 4-over 40 to make a combined 9-over 81 for his round. The closest person to Joshua was Willie Brown who finished his round at 17-over 89, which was good enough for solo 2nd place. Rounding out the top three, was David Tilley and Daniel Chong, who both shot an 18-over 90 to finish in a tie for 3rd.
The Waikele Classic experienced difficulties involved with changing the venue on such short notice. All in all, the event was a huge success and and the Hawaii Tour would like to thank all of the participants for making this event so special. The Hawaii Tour would also like to thank its local sponsors Hawaii Water for providing all of the water. We would also like to thank the Makaha Resort Golf Course and their staff for giving us a great venue to play at.
Next up, the Hawaii Tour returns to Kapolei Golf Course for the 2011 Kapolei Classic on Saturday, May 7. Congratulatios to all of the winners at the Memorable Waikele Classic and a big thank you to all the Tour players that competed in the event!
