Golf: Waiakea High golfer reaches semis at HSJGA match play championships

It’s 15 holes down on Maui and hopefully many more to go for Dysen Park.

The Waiakea High junior used a surge on the back nine Saturday to move into the semifinals at the Hawaii State Junior Golf Association match play championships at the Kaanapali-Kai Course, besting Dillon Jonke 5 and 3.

“One thing I enjoy about match play is that it’s anybody’s game,” Park said. “Unlike stroke play, you don’t have to shoot the best score to necessarily win.”

After eliminating one Maui golfer, Park will try to do it again Sunday morning against second-seeded Anson Cabello, a 5-and-4 winner against Waikoloa’s Caleb Makoff. The other semifinal matches Oahu’s Joshua Hayashida, the top seed, and Maui’s Ben Cafferio. The winners face off in the final Sunday afternoon.

“My mindset for (Sunday) is just to take it one shot at a time and trust myself and my game that I can get the job done,” Park said. “I believe (Sunday) is going to be a good battle between Anson and I.”

After a bye into the quarterfinals, the sixth-seeded Park was locked in a battle with Jonke, who had to win a round-of-16 match earlier in the day, for nine holes.

Park never trailed, but he lost No. 7 and 9 to leave the match tied, then took control by winning four consecutive holes.

“I had a really good streak on the back nine with a couple birdies and some good up and downs,” Park said. “It was one of those things were I had a good run and capitalized on it.”