Maybe next year they can skip the course and hold the tournament on the practice green.
Sam Cyr and Katie Kempter won the Hawaii State Open at Turtle Bay on Sunday, riding hot putters to the victory.
Cyr shot a 66 to beat Dean Wilson by three strokes on the Fazio Course and Kempter carded a Palmer Course-record 63 to roar past Ayaka Kaneko to win by five. Cyr needed 28 putts in the final round and Kempter only needed 22.
"God gave me some grace today," Cyr said. "I putted solid today. I just told myself to get over every putt and it felt like I did that. So many of them rolled in."
Cyr made putts from 20 feet on No. 6, 30 feet on No. 12 and 18 feet on the 13th hole. Kempter sank long ones from 20 feet on the second and seventh holes and an 18-footer on No. 8. Her four misses were long lags from more than 40 feet that nestled next to the hole.
"I’ve always been a good putter in my mind," Kempter said. "It was nice to see them all going in all in one day. Even when I was a kid, I always loved putting. It’s what I practiced because it was free."
Kempter, who won this tournament in 2009 and lost in a playoff last year, played bogey free and passed Kaneko quickly. Kaneko shot a 71 and Kempter tried to keep her out of her mind.
"She is a great player, everyone in Hawaii is great," Kempter said. "I had a game plan; just play your game and all I wanted to do was focus on me."
Cyr started the day tied for the lead with Eric Dugas, Wilson and Sean Maekawa. Maekawa shot a 71 in the group in front of them.
Cyr took the lead from Dugas on the fourth hole, making a long breaker when Dugas missed a short one for bogey. He extended the lead to three on the next hole with a sweet sideways breaker, but gave two shots back with his only three-putt on No. 7. He moved the margin to two with a par on 10 when Wilson suffered a bogey after hitting the ball right up against a rake in a fairway bunker. Wilson had to place the ball on the lip and punch safely into the fairway.
"It (the rake) is not supposed to be in the bunker," Wilson said. "I kind of got screwed on that, but I shouldn’t have hit it in there."
Wilson battled back from a double bogey on the first hole when he got a little careless on a short putt, and made a run at Cyr at the end with birdies on 13, 14 and 16. But Cyr was unfazed with Wilson’s ability to outdrive him and get to the green closer to the hole nearly every time.
"He definitely makes you concentrate, being such a great putter," Cyr said. "Knowing he is out there is such an honor. It can get into your head, but I just wanted to take it one shot at a time and play my game."
David Ishii won the senior open with a 210 and Kimo Greene took the A flight with a 235. Nick Sherwood won the men’s amateur title in a playoff over John Oda. Allisen Corpuz was the low amateur among women with a 217.