‘Iolani’s Jasmine Wong and Dane Watanabe each used a strong front-nine to fuel their championship runs, leading the Raiders to a sweep atop the podium at the ILH golf championships on Wednesday.
“It feels better than I would have imagined,” said Watanabe, who finished as ILH runner-up last year. “Today was an eventful round, with its ups and downs. But I’m happy with the way I stayed in it and just kept fighting all the way until the last stroke.”
Watanabe shot a 75 to win the individual boys title at Pearl Country Club. His total score of 144 strokes was four better than runners-up Yoyo Xia of Hawaii Baptist and Justin Todd of Punahou. Meanwhile, Wong shot 4-under-par 68 to claim the girls title with a total of 143 strokes, three better than runners-up Jacey Kage of HBA and defending champion Raya Nakao of Punahou.
Wong entered the final day of the competition in third place after shooting a 75 in Tuesday’s semifinals, also at Pearl. She rocketed to the top after a strong performance on the front nine.
“I had a really good start,” Wong said. “I had an eagle on the first hole, and I shot 6 under on the front nine.”
After her eagle, Wong birdied the second hole after a shot she thought went wide “ended up being pin high.” She parred holes 3 and 4, then birdied No. 5.
Following her strong start, Wong ran into her first spot of trouble.
“On hole No. 6, I had my first bad shot on the day,” Wong said. “It was not on the green. I had to really get focused because I didn’t chip it to a comfortable range where I could just tap it in.”
She bounced back from her momentary setback with birdies on holes 7 and 8. Wong pulled her shot left into the coconut trees on No. 9, but still managed to par the hole.
Wong wasn’t quite as sharp in the back nine, shooting a 2 over par. But she managed to keep her cool and found a way to get the job done.
“My driver was not very straight today,” Wong said. “I had to rely on smart decision-making and good course management to stay on track. But it turned out OK. I’m pretty sure that without me making those smart decisions, things would have turned out very differently.”
“I tried to hang in there. I felt the nerves kick in when I made the turn, but I just tried to hang in there,”
Wong also credited her support staff.
“I’m just happy my coaches were there to support me, especially my ‘Iolani coaches, Coach Kevin (Ing) and Coach Marissa (Chow), to keep my nerves calm and let me experience everything and go through the process.”
Alongside her ‘Iolani coaches, Wong also credited her father, who inspired and taught her to play golf from the time she was 8 years old. She has also worked extensively with coach Casey Nakama, the late Lance Suzuki, and the soon-to-be-retired David Ishii.
“All in all, I really want to thank my dad, my mom, my coaches, as well as my team for always being there for me everyday, through whatever situation pops out at me. They’re always going to support me,” Wong said.
Watanabe took the inverse route to his ILH title. Watanabe took a stranglehold on the leaderboard with a phenomenal semifinal round on Tuesday, shooting a 3-under-par 69.
He expanded his lead with a strong start on Wednesday. He shot 3 under on his first eight holes, and finished the front nine 2 under par. He ran into some trouble as he turned over to the back nine, but regained momentum after a few pars.
“My driver got a little crooked,” Watanabe said. “I had to punch out back into the fairway from the trees a few times. I could have maybe gone for the green, but I had a big lead already, so I decided to play it safe and not make any stupid mistakes.”
“Hole No. 13 is a really hard par-3. I hit a 5-iron from 175 yards and hit a really good shot to 10 feet out. That doesn’t happen too often on that hole,” Watanabe said. “And that was right after I was struggling in the middle holes, so that was a key shot for this victory.”
As the holes flew by, Watanabe decided to switch up his strategy.
“When I reached hole 16, I kind of knew that I just had to not do anything stupid and then I would be the champion,” Watanabe said.
Following the tournament, Watanabe spoke about the support system that helped him emerge as the ILH champion.
“I started golfing when I was 8 years old. Casey Nakama has been my coach since I was 8. I worked really hard to get to where I am now. It wouldn’t have been possible without Coach Casey, or any of my teammates, my friends, my family. They support me so much, and I’m really grateful for that.”
