| Posted on: Thursday, October 11, 2001
• Hawai'i course of the week
• This week's Holes in One
Around the Greens
Ala Wai prime tour stop
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| The Ala Wai Golf Course could follow the Turtle Bay Championship and make Hawai'i a back-to-back destination for the Senior PGA Tour.
Advertiser library photo • February 1, 2001
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By Bill Kwon
Hale Irwin came, saw and won the inaugural Turtle Bay Championship Sunday when the Senior PGA Tour returned to O'ahu for the first time since 1992. That was the one year that the Senior Tour scheduled back-to-back tournaments in Hawai'i.
The question is, why not back-to-back again? With both tournaments on O'ahu?
"It's possible," said Mark Rolfing, who thinks all things are possible.
After all, it was Rolfing, a Maui resident and television golf commentator for NBC, who first got the PGA seriously involved with "postseason" play.
It was Rolfing's brainchild — the Kapalua International — which got golf's "silly season" rolling. It is a term Rolfing dislikes because he hardly thinks that period is silly, especially with the big bucks involved and the television appeal of the events.
The Kapalua International proved that a postseason was indeed a viable second season for golf. Not only did the tournament demonstrate that Maui could hold a big-time golf event — there wouldn't have been a Mercedes Championships at the Kapalua Resort if it weren't so — it triggered a flood of made-for-television golf events during the tour's down time.
Rolfing's vision proved to be a rousing success.
Now he has another vision. And, again, it is worth thinking about.
"I tell you what I would like to see. I would like to see a senior event at the Ala Wai (golf course)," Rolfing said.
Don't laugh. Think about it.
Right in the heart of Waikiki with all of the major hotels and great restaurants right across the Ala Wai Canal; the Hawai'i Convention Center just about the distance of a par-5 hole or two away, makes it a viable site. And don't forget Diamond Head in the background.
"If you think golf in Hawai'i, and you think of seniors in Hawai'i," Rolfing said, "and you stage a senior event down there, you could have 10-15,000 people a day out there. I think it would be fabulous."
True, the par-70 Ala Wai is not a championship venue for such an event.
But, Rolfing said, if you went to players, especially ones like Lee Trevino and Chi Chi Rodriguez, and others like that who wouldn't care so much about the conditions, the atmosphere would be phenomenal.
The Ala Wai could be easily upgraded if it were to land such a major event. It would be a win-win situation for both the city and state, especially because of the economic fallout locally following the tragic events of Sept. 11.
Certainly, the population base is here on O'ahu.
What surprised many of the golfers at Turtle Bay — an hour's drive from downtown Honolulu — was the size of the galleries. It was larger than those at the Ka'anapali Classic. And, as Hubert Green noted, "What the heck, they even sold tickets this week."
The turnout at Turtle Bay was even larger than the Las Vegas Senior Classic in April, according to Rolfing, who was in Las Vegas for the event.
Imagine what it could be like at the Ala Wai?
With the Turtle Bay Resort committed for three more years, it wouldn't be a bad time now to start pursuing the idea of back-to-back Senior Tour events on O'ahu.
It has happened only once, in 1992 when the Ko Olina Resort sponsored a tournament the week after the Ka'anapali Classic on Maui.
Rodriguez won the event but never had a chance to defend his title. Ko Olina, which also had been hosting the LPGA Hawaiian Ladies Open at the time, dropped the event the following year.
Actually, Ko Olina — now the Marriott Ihilani Resort — is still O'ahu's best tournament site in terms of golf course/hotel amenities. There is talk about the LPGA returning there. An LPGA official said a follow-up event to the Takefuji Classic in Kona has not been confirmed, but the organization is trying to replace the Hawaiian Ladies Open.
But the Ala Wai Golf Course still remains the most intriguing idea as a second site for a Senior Tour event.
"I think back-to-back senior events would be great," Rolfing said. "People still don't view O'ahu as a golf destination. We've got to start working on it."
Rolfing has sold me. Now if he can only convince the state and city to pursue his vision further.
Chip Shots
• After serving as the Wilson distributor in Hawai'i for the past 16 years, Tim Gehrig leaves for Atlanta tomorrow to handle the company's golf and tennis line for the Northern Georgia and Alabama areas. The area will include Augusta.
"It's an opportunity I couldn't pass up," said Gehrig, a Hawai'i resident for more than 30 years. "The most difficult thing for me is leaving the people and climate, which you won't find anywhere else in the world."
Gehrig and his wife, Kyong, have three children, who were all born here.
• Paul Callaway, founder and director of the Body Balance for Performance golf health and fitness training program, will be giving a seminar Oct. 20 at the Honolulu Country Club. Callaway is the first director of physical therapy for the PGA Tour. The seminar will start at 10:30 a.m. Information: Aaron Lee, 596-7002.
• The 17th Danny Kaleikini Foundation golf tournament at the Honolulu Country Club Tuesday raised more than $12,000 for five local organizations.
Through his foundation, Kaleikini, who celebrated his 64th birthday yesterday, has donated more than $500,000 over the years. MGM Mirage sponsored the benefit tournament for the eighth year in a row.
Bill Kwon can be reached at bkwon@aloha.net.
Benefit raises $60,000
Advertiser Staff
More than 200 golfers competed in the Marriott Links to Literacy, a benefit for the Hawai‘i Library Foundation last week, raising more than $60,000.
The total is the most the event has brought in during its eight-year history.
Alan Cambra, Toru Adachi and Ryokichi Tamaki, representing Renaissance Ilikai Waik&Mac246;k&Mac246;, won the men’s division with a combined score of 59.
In the women’s flight, Diane Plotts, Ann Wills and Amelia Andrade of the Literacy Ladies team took first after shooting 71.
All team totals are net scores.
Seventy teams of three players competed in the tournament at Ko Olina Golf Club, including notables Michelle Wie, chef Roy Yamaguchi and Glenn Muranaka, president of Meadow Gold Diaries.
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