Few knew so early but Alex Ching, the Punahou senior who opened the Hickam Invitational shooting a 77 riddled with missed putts, all but clinched his latest adult title with birdies on the first three holes yesterday at Mamala Bay Golf Course.

Ching came into the final round two shots behind Joey Sakaue and confident he had time to erase his deficit. It is a confidence rooted in immense success. The Interscholastic League of Honolulu golf champion, who won last year's OCC Invitational and earned the amateur slot in this year's Sony Open in Hawai'i, will go for his third consecutive state high school doubles tennis championship this week on the Big Island. Next week he gets his first shot at a high school golf title.

It took him three holes — birdie putts of 6 and 15 feet on the first two and a two-putt birdie on the par-5 third — to catch Sakaue. The 23-year-old golf distributor closed with a 73 to finish two behind Ching (69—212) and one back of 'Iolani eighth-grader Lorens Chan (70).

"I'd never been in that position before," said Sakaue, Stephanie Kono's caddie at the Mid-Pacific Open. "It rattled me a little. ... Alex has a great game. He hits fairways, hits greens and he knows how to apply the pressure, and he definitely did that. I hadn't done anything wrong after three holes and I already felt like I was having to keep up."

By the time the lead group made the turn, Ching was 4-under for the day and leading by two. His only hiccup came on successive bogeys at Nos. 12 and 13, but there was no stopping him — again. He has learned how to finish, with the fuzzy yellow ball and dimpled white one.

"I didn't want to start playing 'chicken,' protecting my lead," Ching said. "It wasn't like I went out trying to force something. I just needed to play my game. My dad kept telling me to 'see the ball,' which just means hit every shot as if that's the one shot you've got to hit."

Ching focused on his putting after Friday's meltdown. He rallied with a 66 Saturday and closed with another strong round to get in the right frame of mind for the upcoming state championships.

"After the first day I was not confident at all," said Ching, who will play golf for Phil Mickelson's brother Tim at the University of San Diego in the fall. "I just kept working on my game."

Today, he will be working on his tennis. "I have the same mindset for both sports," Ching said. "I want to play to the best of my ability. I want to go out and dig as deep as I can. For both sports, 'seeing the ball' is my focus and philosophy."

Ching, Chan, Sakaue and Brandan Kop (70—215), inducted into the Hawai'i Golf Hall of Fame a week ago, were the only players under par. A double bogey at the 11th short-circuited Sakaue's chances. Chan needed three birdies on the final five holes to get second. The one swing he would like back came on the first hole, which he bogeyed.

"It was one of those careless holes to start with, maybe first-hole jitters," said Kevin Ralbovsky, who coaches the 13-year-old. "Once he settled down ... by the second everything was fine and he got into a good groove."

Not quite good enough again. Chan was third here last year, and second to Ching at the OCC Invitational and Sony qualifier. He turns 14 this month, a few weeks before Manoa Cup, where he was a semifinalist last year.

Yesterday, he wasn't sure where he stood until the scoreboard went up.

"That's good and bad," Chan said. "I could play my own game and not get distracted. But I didn't know I was under par until the 17th and didn't know where I stood until I came in. Maybe I would have tried a little harder, but the results might have been the same. I had a strong finish."

That is not uncommon for the precocious Chan. "What's nice about Lorens is his instincts are so good," Ralbovsky said. "I don't have to coach him a lot on the course. He has a really good sense of what the percentage shot is. It's basically a matter of keeping his mood up, keeping things positive and trying to keep him patient. He's going to be an amazing player if he keeps having fun with it and doesn't get ahead of himself."

NOTES

Ryan Kuroiwa closed with a 74 to win the A Flight at 223. Brian Pang (79—236) captured the B Flight, Shigeru Matsui (72—221) Senior Flight and George Yamamoto (74—231) Super Seniors. Matsui aced the second hole (174 yards) Saturday with a 6-iron.