Pono Tokioka, topping the 15-18 Championship flight at last week’s Mitchell Ota tournament, finished tied for 11th place at the Optimist International Golf Championships in Florida, Saturday. Tokioka, rebounding from an opening round of 77, finished three rounds at 226,
Pono Tokioka, topping the 15-18 Championship flight at last week’s Mitchell Ota tournament, finished tied for 11th place at the Optimist International Golf Championships in Florida, Saturday.
Tokioka, rebounding from an opening round of 77, finished three rounds at 226, tying with John Oda of Honolulu, Eithel McGowen of Lima, Peru, and Matt Lemay of Waterloo, Ontario, at 10-over par.
Beth Tokioka, Pono’s mother, said he qualified for the Optimist Internation by finishing third at a match played at the Turtle Bay, O‘ahu, earlier this summer.
Beth Tokioka said in addition to Pono, Oda and Trey Kidd, a golfer from Casper, Wyo., fared well at the international tournament that was topped by a three-way tie between Evan DeRoche of Key West, Fla., Nonthap Hattakanont of Bangkok, Thailand, and Jake McBride of Hartville, Ohio, at a three-round score of one-over par 217.
There were 14 golfers from Hawai‘i qualified to play in the tournament in seven divisions. Oda and Tokioka were the pair in the Boys 14-15 flight.
Tokioka opened with two birdies that were offset by three bogeys and a pair of double bogeys for five-over par, Thursday on The Champion Course.
He picked up the pace, improving to five birdies, Friday, three bogeys, but a fatal No. 17 saw Tokioka end with nine strokes on the par 3 hole with three balls in the water, ending the day a stroke ahead of Thursday at 76.
Saturday’s round had Tokioka carding four birdies and two bogeys and a triple bogey on the par 4 No. 11 hole to end the day one-over par 73.
Now in its 15th year at PGA National, the Optimist International Junior Golf Championships continues to be one of the fastest-growing junior tournaments in the world with thousands of golfers, ages 10-18, participating in more than 55 qualifying tournaments.
The Optimist expanded to a two-tournament format in 1999 to accomodate the increasing number of participants that number more than 600 of the best junior golfers representing more than 30 nations, 35 states and five Canadian provinces.
“I just thought it would be a great thing if young people from throughout the world could meet each other and play with each other in an international golf tournament,” said John Brown, one of three founders who established the world-class event in 1968.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com
