Who’da thought the amateurs would come back after losing most of their matches in the afternoon foursomes (Alternate Shot) and going into the singles matches of this year’s Governor John Burns Challenge Cup at Mid-Pacific Country Club with a two-point deficit, pros-7 and Amateurs-5.
The best-ball morning round had the amateurs up a point, 3-1/2-to-2-1/2, as amateurs Todd Rego/Matt Ma, Skye Inakoshi/Isaac Jaffurs and Loren Chans/ John Oda each won, while Kalena Preus/ Donny Hopoi halved with Larry Stubblefield/Ron Castillo, Jr. The two pro points came from wins by Beau Yokomoto/ Regan Lee and Shane Abe/Damien Jamila.
In the afternoon matches the pros came alive, winning four matches, with Abe/Jamila fighting to a halve. That left the score at 7-to-5 for the singles on Tuesday.
Phil Anamizu, captain of the Amateur team, told Hawaii Golf he felt his team could make a comeback: “I had about 75% high-school students, so I encouraged those young people to just go out and have fun… to attack the golf course!! I’m very proud of the way they all gave it their best efforts, coming back by winning nine matches.”
Actually, only pros Damien Jamilla and Ron Castillo, Jr. were able to win their singles matches, and Matt Pakkala halved with amateur Kalena Preus. The nine amateur wins were decisive, except for Jaffurs’ 1-up win over Kevin Shimomura. The singles totals were 9-1/2 for the Amateurs and 2-1/2 for the pros.
The final tally: Amateurs – 14-1/2 and pros – 9-1/2. The important number is five wins in a row for the Amateurs. There’s still a gap in the scores over the entire history of the Challenge Cup, as the Amateurs are still trailing the pros, 25-to-14; however, you must realize that five years ago, it was 25-to-9!!
– Norm Guenther