Moanalua sprinted by three-time defending champion Punahou with a scorching finishing kick Thursday to win the David S. Ishii Foundation/HHSAA Boys State High School Golf Championship.
Na Menehune played Wailua Municipal’s final 11 holes in 7 under par to overtake the Buffanblu and win by six. Punahou, which had won six of the previous eight titles, held a 10-shot lead after Wednesday’s opening round.
“I told them it’s OK to get off to a rocky start because golf is not a game of perfect,” Moanalua coach John Radke said. “You can’t force things. I knew they would not force it. I told them to get out of their own way and let their training take over and enjoy their time out there, let it happen. Enjoy the feeling of the challenge.
“They work really hard these kids, and it showed today. There was lots of smiling going on. They were all really light this morning and that’s why they walked away winners today.”
Moanalua won its only other state title four years ago, also at Wailua. It is the only OIA team to win the boys state championship since 1980.
Senior Shawn Lu anchored his team’s rally, earning medalist honors with a final-round 71. He and former teammate John Oda, who won state championships in 2012 and 2014, are the only boys from Moanalua to win a state title.
After a roller-coaster opening round that featured five birdies and five bogeys, Lu shared the lead with Punahou’s Kyle Suppa and Matthew Shen. He grabbed first alone with pars on the first 10 holes Thursday, then got some separation with birdies on the next three holes.
It capped a school year that also saw Lu play in this year’s Sony Open in Hawaii. He won the State Amateur Stroke Play Championship last year and earned medalist honors at the 2014 Junior America’s Cup, a team event won by Hawaii.
Lu was the only golfer to finish under par, at 143. He won by four over teammates Jun Ho Won (73) and Ray Kim (74), and Mid-Pacific Institute’s Zackary Kaneshiro (71), who shot the tournament’s only other sub-par score. Kim, a sophomore, was playing as an individual.
The boys played Wailua from the tips, at nearly 7,000 yards.
Punahou’s lead was down to one at the turn Thursday. Na Menehune soared ahead in the next four holes behind Lu’s birdie streak, Won’s consistency and comebacks from Kyosuke Hara, who will play with Lu at Oregon State in the fall, and sophomore AJ Teraoka.
Those two, who tied for ninth, were a combined 7 under after the seventh hole. Hara opened with bogeys on six of the first seven and Teraoka was 3 over after five.
“It was chickenskin for me the whole time,” Radke said. “It was hard to sit back and watch them play. I just wanted to be out there with them. They grinded well today.”
Moanalua’s team score (best four of five) was 2-over 290 on the final day for a two-day total of 594. Punahou finished at 306—600, led by seniors Suppa and Shen, who tied for fifth at 76—148. `Iolani was third at 644.
“I had a good feeling,” Radke said. “We played very uncharacteristic rounds the first day, everybody went really high. The tournaments before they were all under par. I knew they were going to bounce back. They just needed to get back out there. They were hungry to play, they work really hard and they play really well as a unit.”
