Jun Won Park gunned it in the opening round, then put his fundamentally flawless golf game into neutral to successfully defend his title in the 35th Hawaii Pearl Open.

Park, the first-round leader after a spectacular 65, pulled away on the back nine Sunday. He closed with a 2-under-par 70 to beat second-round leader Dong Seop Maeng by two shots at Pearl Country Club.

Park’s winning score was 10-under 206, one better than last year, when he needed extra holes to hold off 15-year-old Hawaii amateur John Oda.

Park, 26, finished 12th on the Korean Tour money list last year and Maeng 30th. Both aspire to the more lucrative Japan Golf Tour Organization this year, and the Pearl Open is part of their pathway.

Maeng, who closed with a 73, now has three top 10s in as many tries here. Park is 2-for-2, with a scoring average of just under 69.

"I felt some pressure as defending champion," Park said through an interpreter. "But whenever I come to this course I feel a lot more comfortable than at other courses."

There were only four rounds in the 60s on Sunday — one by 2011 champ John Ellis — as rain and wind wreaked competitive havoc, particularly for those trying to catch up.

Mark Hubbard birdied two of the last three holes to take third alone at 72—209. The 2011 WAC champion is now headed back to the Canadian Tour, where he was 14th on the money list last year.

Japan pro Katsumasa Miyamoto shot 67, the day’s low round, to pull into a six-way tie for fourth at 210. That group included Kauai’s TJ Kua (72), who had the best finish of any Hawaii player in his first HPO as a pro, winning $4,300.

The last Hawaii golfer to win here was Tadd Fujikawa, just after his 16th birthday in 2007.

The last player to repeat was Hilo’s Gregory Meyer, who did it twice (2003 and ’04, 1987 and ’88). Meyer got a share of 15th on Sunday at 73—213.

Pearl Director of Golf David Ishii, who has won six Pearl titles and was 37th this year, is the only golfer to three-peat, winning in 1989, ’90 and ’91.

Park will have a shot at matching that next year, thanks in large part to that 65 he threw at the international field Friday. He had eight birdies that day and just seven more the rest of the tournament, but his game is so solid he rarely rolls in reverse.

He was a shot back of Maeng going into the final round. They were tied at 9 under at the turn, with Kua, Hubbard and Utah pro Steve Schneiter two back.

While all the legitimate contenders fell off, Park found every fairway and green. A little more luck with his putter and he would have run away.

"It was pretty windy, but my shots were not that bad," Park understated. "I was just leaving 2- or 3-foot putts for par, playing steady. My swing was good, so I took my shot at the 17th."

After eight straight seemingly simple pars, he launched his only aggressive shot on the back nine at the next-to-last hole.

"Up to the 17th hole, I was pretty nervous because we were only one or two shots different," Park said. "On 17, after my drive, the angle was not there, so I had to hit a slice. It went just as I thought."

A ridiculously easy two-putt birdie clinched the $12,000 first prize, along with two first-class tickets to Japan, a gold and diamond pendant and a 500,000-yen (approximately $5,600) bonus for winning the anniversary event.

Maeng could not match Park’s precision or relentlessness. He fell a shot back when he blew his tee shot through the 13th green. The gap was two after a three-putt two holes later.

Shotaro Wada, a 17-year-old high school sophomore from Japan, closed with a 69 to earn low-amateur honors and a share of that fourth-place tie at 210.

Oda (72), the state high school champion, and former Rainbow Jared Sawada (74) were low local amateurs at 212, getting a share of 11th with Leilehua graduate Nick Mason (71) and Japan pro Kunihiro Kamii.

Two-time Pearl champ Kiyoshi Murota, who is 57, took 10th alone.