KEALAKEKUA – Andi Igawa played her last Hawaii State Junior Golf Association event on Wednesday, but it won’t be her final competitive round on the Big Island. ADVERTISING KEALAKEKUA – Andi Igawa played her last Hawaii State Junior Golf Association
KEALAKEKUA – Andi Igawa played her last Hawaii State Junior Golf Association event on Wednesday, but it won’t be her final competitive round on the Big Island.
The Waiakea High School graduate and Big Island Interscholastic Federation champion said she has committed to play at the University of Hawaii at Hilo.
Her performance at the King Auto Group 13-18 State Junior Championship, which wrapped up at The Club at Hokulia on Wednesday, showed where she needs to improve.
“I think I just need to work on my short game,” she said after shooting a second-round 83 and finishing 21 strokes behind winner Rose Huang of Honolulu in the girls’ 15-18 division. “My long hitting is fine. I just have to work on putting and chipping. If I can get those down, I’ll be OK.”
Huang shot a 3-under 69 in the second round to finish with a tournament-best 140. Allisen Corpuz of Honolulu finished second in the division with a 145.
Honolulu’s Shawn Lu fired a 2-under 70 to overtake first-round leader Kyle Suppa, who finished a stroke back after carding a 3-over 75 on Wednesday, in the boys’ 15-18 division.
Waiakea’s Shon Katahira finished 12th after shooting 78 for the second consecutive day. Kamehameha Schools-Hawaii’s Preston-Lee Ching (84-81-165) and Waiakea’s Trevor Hirata (87-79-166) finished 18th and 19th, respectively.
Allysha Mae Mateo of Mililani shot 76 — five shots better than her opening round — to win the girls’ 13-14 division, where Waiakea’s Kaelyn Uchida went 91-90-181.
Honolulu’s Evan Kawai also improved, with a 73 on Wednesday, to take the boys’ 13-14 title with 149. Kamehameha’s Pono Yanagi finished fourth after going 83-85-168.
Despite finishing in a tie for 10th place, Igawa said she’s playing better than she did when she won the BIIF title in the spring.
“I think I could use a little more practice, but I’ve noticed that my game has progressed a little bit more,” she said. “For BIIFs I shot 88 and still won with that. I think I got way better. I just have got to get more consistent.”
Igawa is considering majoring in education and said that UH-Hilo is strong in that area. Staying in Hilo could also help her academically.
“I really wanted to stay home after I thought about it for a while,” she said. “Initially, I was going to go to the mainland. It’s a better transition, for schooling, anyway.”
Notes: By winning their divisions Kawai, Mateo, Huang and Lu earned invitations to play in the Japan High School Golf Championship from Aug. 7-9 in Yamaguchi, Japan. … Suppa, Lu, Kyosuke Hara and Spencer Dunaway earned the right to represent Hawaii in the Junior America’s Cup while Malia Nam, Aiko Leong, Mari Nishiura and Kristin Le claimed spot on the girls’ team. … Zackary Kaneshiro, Justin Williamson, Tyler Munetake and Justin Ngan qualified for the Eddie Hogan Cup. … Mateo, Leong, Nishiura and Le earned spots in the Mary Cave Cup.
