Bradley Shigezawa managed his way around the pesky Dunes at Maui Lani golf course for a first-round score of 3-under 69, putting him atop the leader board at the 2014 Maui Open, his first. The 22-year-old Claremont-Mudd-Scripps senior has never played a competitive round at the Dunes before, but he seemed to get his way as he waltzed around the Robin-Nelson-designed Maui links land in sub-par fashion.
Shigezawa, who won the 2013 Division III individual national championship by five strokes, helped lead Claremont-Mudd-Scripps to a fifth-place team finish at last year’s NCAA Championships. He placed 15th at the 2013 Western Refining College All-America Classic, reached the quarterfinals of the 105th Manoa Cup—the Hawaii State Amateur Match Play Championship—and was the 2013 Southern California Intercollegiate Athlete Conference Player of the Year. Not bad, and he knows it, showing his exuberance by scoffing at the chance to be interviewed by yours truly!
Just two strokes back were three players: TJ Kua of Oahu, James Horton of Lahaina, and Max Bonk from the Big Island. TJ managed to stay in the zone heading home, and on the 14th hole, we caught him playing a fine shot into the green. He would miss that putt, but on 16 we were there to see his birdie putt drop on that short par 4.
Max Bonk appeared to be faring well, and we captured him playing an excellent iron shot into 14.
The goes for James Moran-Horton too—the 21-year-old former student of Kaanapali pro Sutee Nitakorn, who coached the lad during his days at Lahainaluna. Horton, who once aced the 8th hole on the Bay Course, killed his drive on 15 and then played a perfect iron shot into the green, which we caught on camera.
Dunes head pro and Maui Open defending champion Garrett Okamura was six back after a day where he just couldn’t find his mojo. The 2014 Aloha Section PGA Player of the Year struggled on 11, making a triple-bogey and we saw him play a stellar wedge into 14 the leave a 12-footer for birdie. The left-to-right putt literally went around the cup as he was forced to settle for par.
Maui News writer Chris Sugidono noted, in his report, that Okamura’s lack of prowess today might’ve been a result of his helping to manage the event, but Garrett will likely overcome any work-related adversity as he tees it up during the final round.
2014 Maui Open Golf Championship
The Dunes at Maui Lani Golf Course
First Round Results, November 22, 2014
Championship flight:
Bradley Shigezawa 69, Max Bonk 71, James Horton 71, TJ Kua 71, Kyle Hayashi 73, Spencer Shishido 74, Kengo Aoshima 75, Justin Ngan 75, Garrett Okamura 75, Chris Adam 76, John Galarita 76, Eliot Gouveia 76, David Havens 76, Ryan Acosta 77, Justin Arcano 77, Jake Grodzinsky 77, Todd Rego 77, Radford Sam Fong 77, Dalen Yamauchi 77, Andre Bedard 78, Tyler Munetake 78, Cory Oride 78, Sam Rodriguez 78, Dillon Soldwisch 78, John Bascuk 79, Kevin Shimomura 79, Bryce Iwasaki 80, Isaac Jaffurs 80, Patrick Murakami 80, Stephen Zane 81, Blaine Fujimoto 82, Ben Hongo 82, Chris Shimomura 82, Drake Onaga 83, Noah Miller 84, Remington Hirano 85, Chris Black 86, TJ Figueroa 87, Darren Henry 87, Mark Rutherford 87, Scott Rutherford 87, Dean Sturman 89, Denver Coon 90, Benjamin Tegel 91, Alexander Cabello 99.
Senior flight:
Kirk Nelson 72, Mark Chun 76, David Goode 76, Wade Latham 76, Mark Shimamura 76, Clive Kegel 78, Eric Molina 78, Jon Yokouchi 78, Rey Lemaine 79, Dugal Milne 80, Peter Rice 80, Rohn Stark 80, Phillip Anamizu 81, Lee Sakugawa 83, Richard Gillette 84, Matt Gilbertson 85, Lee Hardy 85, Marc Stevens 86, Ralph James 89, John Bryant 92, Kelly Ray Mulholland 93.
Super senior flight:
Ed Beslow 71, Dean Prince 73, Mike Gibbins 78, Rodney Acia 79, Alan Grodzinsky 81, Mike Long 81, Dickie Moon 81, Doug Stacy 81, Cliff Council 82, Robert Ota 85, John Sostman 85, AJ Molitor 86, Wendell Reinking 89, Michael Liverett 90, Jim Marcum 91, Eddie Melott 92, Robert Diener 93, Rob Town 97.
A flight:
David Balmores 66, Rick Colletto 67, Ronald Asuncion 69, Jordan Terada 71, Joseph Delaginte Jr. 72, Lloyd Komoda 72, Wesley Decoite 74, Allen Souza 74, Robert Ito 75, Todd Kawasaki 75, Glenn Ono 75, Ralph Overton 77, Gerald Suzuki 77, Greg Wada 78, Mario Chajon 79, James Phillips 79, Kristeena Locke 81, Stephen Diehl 82, Brendon Spencer 83, Lance Terada 83, Thomas Jezierny 86, Ernie Cronkite 89.
