By Rick Winters
West Hawaii Today
No real standout emerged after the first day of the HHSAA state golf tournament on Thursday at Kings’ Course in Waikoloa. Four golfers are currently tied for first, while eight shot par or better, and 16 are separated by four shots or less.
Waiakea’s Trevor Hirata, the 2015 BIIF champion, currently sits in a tie for ninth, three strokes back of the leader after finishing with a 1-over-par 73. Hirata struggled to make solid contact on the ball from the tee box and the fairway but saved many holes with his chipping and putting.
“I didn’t hit the ball well at all and I had to scramble a lot,” Hirata said. “I guess I was able to put together a round but hopefully I can do better.”
Hirata’s day started off poorly when he double bogeyed his second hole, the par-3 11th. Through his first nine holes he was up and down, birdying 13 and18, but bogeying the 16th to round the turn at 1-over par. The final nine holes continued the trend but he was able to finish them at even par. He birdied holes one and four and bogeyed holes three and six.
For most of the day at Waikoloa, Hirata and the rest of the field were chasing Baldwin’s Justin Arcano (Maui). Arcano started his day on the 10th tee and birdied the 13th, 14th and 18th hole to move to 3-under par.
He shot par on the next five holes and had a 1-stroke lead heading to the sixth tee. However, he double bogeyed the par-4 hole and did the same on the par-3 seventh. He bogeyed the eighth hole before finally birdying his final hole to tie Hirata for ninth place after shooting a 73.
Arcano’s teammate, Tyler Munetake, as well as Kamehameha-Kapalama’s Spencer Dunaway (Oahu), and a pair of Punahou golfers, Colin Laszlo and Andrew Chin (Oahu), benefited from the collapse. Each finished in a tie for first with 2-under, 70 rounds.
Punahou leads the team competition through the first half of the tourney after four golfers combined to shoot 290. The Buffanblu are the defending team champions. Waiakea, the only BIIF team in contention, currently sits seventh, 30 strokes back. The Warriors have won the team championship 11 times, more than any other school, but the prospects of picking up that 12th championship this year looks dim.
The second round of the state tournament will tee off at 7:30 a.m. on Friday. Hirata will tee off at 9:14 a.m. and the leaders will pair off into two separate groups and tee off at 9:22 and 9:30 a.m.
