WAIMEA – Dysen Park and Kiersten Saludares did not have the odds on their side.
Neither of Waiakea’s top golfers entered Tuesday’s round at Mauna Kea Beach Hotel – the second of two to determine the BIIF individual champion – with a lead. By the end of the day, however, both claimed gold medals as BIIF champions after pulling off impressive comebacks.
As Tuesday’s round began, Kevin Yamashita led Park by three stroke; after the front nine, the Kealakehe junior had extended his lead to an imposing seven strokes.
“When I made the turn, I was like, ‘Oh, goodness,’” said Park. “I didn’t even want to look at the leaderboard. Coming down the stretch, it got real really fast.”
Park’s comeback began promptly on the 10th hole, as he recorded an eagle to Yamashita’s bogey. By the time the pair reached the 18th hole, Yamashita’s once-impressive lead had shrunk to just one stroke.
Even after Park’s approach shot on 18 found the greenside bunker, the Waiakea junior was confident in his ability to get up and down to complete the comeback, remembering a similar situation just two holes earlier.
“I ended up going on the left in the bunker (on 16); if I don’t get up and down, this tournament is over,” said Park. “I told myself, ‘Get it out, just trust your swing.’ And I nearly holed it.
“Same thing on 18. When I was in the bunker on 18, I was like, ‘Ok, we can do this again.’”
Park did exactly that, placing his shot from the bunker less than five feet away from the pin, putting the pressure on Yamashita. When Yamashita three-putted, Park sealed the comeback by sinking his final putt, giving him a 2-over score of 146 after 36 holes of play.
“To come from behind like that, when everything came together, it was kind of surreal in the moment,” said Park. “To see everybody there on 18, the blood is definitely pumping. But you know, it’s part of the game; we all played fairly well on a course like this. You’ve just got to stick with it.”
As for Saludares? Well, she quickly ensured her comeback would contain much less drama. She entered Tuesday’s round trailing teammate Elle Otani by one stroke.
“I just wanted to play my own game; stick to how I usually play,” said Saludares. “This course is very tricky for me, so I tried to play it safe.”
Steady play by Saludares – who was the only girl to not record a score worse than bogey on any hole Tuesday – allowed her to take the lead from Otani after the sixth hole. Heading into the back nine, it was a three-person race, with Saludares two strokes ahead of Otani and five ahead of Hawaii Prep’s Isabella Rodriguez.
As the back nine wore on, Saludares continued to extend her lead to remove all doubt, decisively pulling away from her opponents to record a 11-over score of 155 after 36 holes, besting Otani by 10 strokes and Rodriguez by 15.
“To be honest, I wasn’t really keeping up with both of our scores,” said Saludares of her thoughts during that final back nine. “But I could kind of tell that I was leading. I just tried to stay calm; anything could happen.”
Rounding out the top five for the girls were Hawaii Prep’s Ella Forrest in fourth at +47 and Hilo’s Mika Holi in fifth at +63.
For the boys, Makua Lani’s Caleb Makoff finished six strokes behind Park to take third, followed by Waiakea’s Ryder Ng in fourth at +12 and Noah Otani in fifth at +18.
Big Island golfers will now turn their focus to the HHSAA Championship at Maui’s Ka’anapali Resort.
BIIF qualifiers – as determined by the average of their best four rounds – include Saludares, Elle Otani, Rodriguez, Forrest, Holi, Kamehameha’s Adrianna Volpe, Waiakea’s Leiah Kang and Kiara Kimata, Hawaii Prep’s Selina Yoo and Hilo’s Christina and Caroline Jung for the girls.
Qualifying for the boys are Park, Yamashita, Noah Otani, Ng, Makoff, Kealakehe’s Xander Broderson and Tristin Laflamme, Hilo’s Darrell Ramos Jr., Aidan Puleo, and Reyn Kaneshiro, Waiakea’s Kolton McCallum and Mike Lopez, and Kamehameha’s Michael Perry, Luke Kellikuli, Adam Perry and Jayden Alonso-Estrada.
BIIF Individual Championship
Round 1: Hualalai Resort, Sunday, April 24
Round 2: Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, Tuesday, April 26
Boys
Player School R1 R2 Total
Dysen Park, Waiakea 73 73 146
Kevin Yamashita, Kealakehe 70 77 147
Caleb Makoff, Makua Lani 76 76 152
Ryder Ng, Waiakea 76 80 156
Noah Otani, Waiakea 74 88 162
Darrell Ramos Jr., Hilo 85 78 163
Xander Broderson, Kealakehe 89 87 176
Kolton McCallum, Waiakea 91 97 188
Aidan Puleo, Hilo 98 100 198
Lucas Yamanaka, Waiakea 97 103 200
Kaiden Ambrosio, Hilo 94 108 202
Adam Perry, Kamehameha 100 106 206
Kawika Peterson, Hilo 104 105 209
Michael Perry, Kamehameha 107 103 210
Luke Kellikuli, Kamehameha 103 112 215
Reyn Kaneshiro, Hilo 103 113 216
Tristin Laflamme, Kealakehe 98 WD 98
Jaxyn Hasegawa, Hilo 101 DQ 101
Girls
Player School R1 R2 Total
Kiersten Saludares, Waiakea 77 78 155
Elle Otani, Waiakea 76 89 165
Isabella Rodriguez, Hawaii Prep 79 91 170
Ella Forrest, Hawaii Prep 93 98 191
Mika Holi, Hilo 96 110 207
Selina Yoo, Hawaii Prep 98 120 218
Adrianna Volpe, Kamehameha 102 120 222
Leiah Kang, Waiakea 117 110 227
Christina Jung, Hilo 112 122 232