It might help to let the 17 teams who play in next week’s 38th John A. Burns Intercollegiate know it is no coincidence that Wailua Municipal Golf Course lies under the passive, massive gaze of the Sleeping Giant mountain ridge on Kauai.

Wailua has hosted three U.S. Public Links Championships. Doug Sanders and Charlie Sifford won Kauai Opens there in the early 1960s.

It is a sleeping giant.

Two national Publinx champions — Guy Yamamoto and Casey Watabu — grew up on it. So did David Ishii, who won the 1990 Hawaiian Open and 14 Japan PGA titles.

"That speaks volumes for having a public course like Wailua," says Art Fujita, who started caddying at the muni in 1941.

"I am an antique," laughs a guy whose handicap is now 11 — after three hand surgeries the past two years.

Fujita started going to work with his mom at Wailua when he was 8, with the sole purpose of convincing someone — anyone — to teach him how to drive.

He ultimately convinced the maintenance supervisor to give him lessons in return for landscape labor. The supervisor got the better of the deal.

Wailua is one of the most beautiful golf courses in Hawaii, with mountains to one side, the Pacific Ocean to the other and huge challenges in between. Better yet, kamaaina can play it for $7.50 after 2 p.m.

Two years ago, the U.S. Golf Association told Kauai after a visit that its muni was ready for another USGA major.

It hosted the 50th Public Links in 1975, when Hawaii’s Randy Barenaba beat Hawaii’s Allan Yamamoto in a 37-hole final. Fujita was caddie master.

He became general chair when the Publinx returned in 1985. Fujita, who reached the 1969 Publinx final in Erie, Pa., was chief fundraiser in 1996. The year delay was to fully recover from damage suffered in 1992’s Hurricane Iniki.

What was described as a wasteland of sand dunes and ironwood trees became a nine-hole course in 1920. The first clubhouse was a shed, rough was more brush than grass and trains ran through the fairways.

Guinea Kop — a member of the Hawaii Golf Hall of Fame, like Ishii and Yamamoto — came over to be Wailua’s second pro.

The late Toyo Shirai — also in the Hall — took the course superintendent’s job in 1946. He was paid $175 a month and given the pro shop concession to help make ends meet. He designed the final nine holes, which opened as the front side in 1962 after 14 years of labor and lobbying.

The main objective to build the course out was to provide employment for plantation workers losing their jobs to mechanization.

But the major addition also created a visitor destination. Shirai, who was superintendent and head pro when the 18-hole layout debuted, once estimated that 70 percent of Wailua’s play in 1975 came from tourists.

The "Pebble Beach of the Pacific" was born without benefit of a professional architect. That puts it in the same league as legendary courses Merion, Oakmont and Pebble Beach, but you can’t play those for $7.50.

On Feb. 19, third-ranked California will begin its quest to four-peat at the Burns, with third-ranked individual Brandon Hagy leading the charge. Top-20 teams Texas A&M, with No. 4 Ben Crancer, and New Mexico are also here.

Wailua will play at about 7,000 yards as it hosts the Burns for the first time since 1978. Two years ago, the County of Kauai asked UH to consider returning and showcase the sleeping giant. Last year, UH coach Ronn Miyashiro accepted the invitation.

"Hosting the 2014 John A. Burns Intercollegiate tournament," wrote Deputy Director of Parks and Recreation Ian Costa in an email, "is a significant step in re-establishing Wailua Golf Course as one of Hawaii’s premier golf courses."

The Burns tournament is one of college golf’s premier events. Bobby Clampett won the first time around at Wailua. Other past champs include Hawaii’s Donald Hurter (1994), Notah Begay (1995) and Tiger Woods (1996).

The tourney tees off at 8 a.m. Wednesday and Feb. 20 and concludes Feb. 21 with an 8:30 a.m. start.