No real standout emerged after the first day of the HHSAA state golf tournament at Kings’ Course in Waikoloa on Thursday. Four golfers are currently tied for first 2-under, while eight shot par or better and 16 are separated by four shots or less.
Waiakea’s Trevor Hirata — the 2015 BIIF champion — currently sits in a tie for ninth, three strokes back of the leader after finishing with a 1-over 73 on Thursday. Hirata struggled to make solid contact on the ball from the tee box and the fairway but saved many holes with his chipping and putting.
“I didn’t hit the ball well at all and I had to scramble a lot,” Hirata said. “I guess I was able to put together a round but hopefully I can do better.”
Hirata’s day started off poorly when he double-bogeyed his second hole, the par-3 No. 11. Through his first nine holes he birdied twice and bogied to round the turn at 1-over par. The final nine holes continued the trend but he was able to finish those at even par.
For most of the day, Hirata and the rest of the field were chasing Baldwin’s Justin Arcano. Arcano started his day on the 10th tee and birdied Nos. 13, 14 and 18 to move to 3-under par.
He shot par on the next five holes and had a 1-stroke lead heading to the sixth tee. However, he double-bogeyed the par-4 hole and did the same on the par-3 seventh. He bogeyed the eighth hole before finally birdying his final hole to tie Hirata for ninth place after shooting a 73.
Arcano’s teammate, Tyler Munetake, as well as Kamehameha-Kapalama’s Spencer Dunaway, and a pair of Punahou golfers in Colin Laszlo and Andrew Chin, benefited from the collapse. Each entered the clubhouse in a tie for first at 2-under.
Punahou leads the team competition through the first half of the tourney after four golfers combined to shoot 290. The Buffanblu are the defending team champions. Waiakea, the only BIIF team near contention, currently sits seventh, 30 strokes back. The Warriors have won the team championship 11 times, more than any other school, but the prospects of picking up that 12th championship this year looks dim.
The second round of the state tournament will tee off at 7:30 a.m. on Friday. Hirata tees off at 9:14 a.m. and the leaders will pair off into two separate groups at 9:22 and 9:30 a.m.