With the exception of Andrew Otani, UH-Hilo men’s golf team fell back down to earth Tuesday at the the Pacific West Championships.
First-round co-leader Keith Ng started well enough with two birdies to begin the second round in Litchfield Park, Ariz., but he struggling mightily after that, finishing with a triple-bogey on No. 18 and an 83. UHH lost 12 strokes on the day to Hawaii Pacific, the new leader at 18-over. The Vuls were 28-over and in fourth place heading to the final round.
Otani carded an 72 to remain 3-over, moving up to a tie for fourth on the reshaped leaderboard, which showed defending champ Keita Okada holding a five-stroke lead after a 71. UHH Dustin Franko (76) was 5-over and Ng was another three shots back. Noah Lau (80) was 12-over, and for the second consecutive round, Nicholas Gomez’s score (84) didn’t count toward the team score.
In the women’s tournament, Kaelyn Uchida shot 4-over 76 and was five strokes behind the leader, Dominican’s Claire Shubin.
Kaili Oki (80) improved her score by two shots and Carli Shimokihara (83) was five shots better, but Tia Kualii (86) and Tori Hironaga (90) went in the opposite direction.
UHH was fifth, 24 shot behind pace-setting Biola.