UH in 6th After Second Round at Kāʻanapali Classic

James Horton UH Sandy Par #7. Photo credit: Melissa Dupuis

University of Hawaii is now sitting in 6th place after the second round of the Kāʻanapali Classic Collegiate Invitational golf tournament taking place this weekend on the Royal Kāʻanapali Course.  There’s still one more round to go as the 19-team field wraps up the three day 54-hole tournament in West Maui.

UH sophomore, James Moran-Horton carded a 74 (+3) and stands at T11 (-1) for the 36 holes. Saturday’s scores of Sam Schwartz (+3), Scott Yamashita (+4) and Skye Inakoshi (+5) contributed to the UH – Team A.

Georgia’s Zach Healy shot a 66 (-5) to bring his 2-day total to 134 (-8) creating a three-stroke lead over Oklahoma’s Grant Hirschman and Ball State’s Johnny Watts (T2 at -5).

Georgia sophomore Zach Healy was T8 after the first round and climbed seven spots to stand first going into the final round. Healy started off with an eagle on the par 5, 6th hole and only had one blemish (bogey) on the par 3, 8th.

He followed up with four birdies on his back nine to finish strong. Healy’s (-5) on Saturday contributed to team Georgia’s rise up the leaderboard to second place (-5), six strokes off No. 14 nationally ranked Oklahoma (-11). The Georgia team (No. 17 nationally ranked) was T5 after Friday’s round.

Oklahoma shot (-3) today to bring their 2-day team total to 557 (-11), one of only three teams to stand at under par after 36 holes on the Royal Kāʻanapali Course.  North Carolina State stands at (-3) in third place. Oklahoma’s junior Max McGreevy shot an impressive 66 (-5), firing up the leaderboard from T51 to T8 after the second round. McGreevy’s 66 tied his career-best round.

UH teed off to a strong start on Friday, sitting at third place after the first round and just six strokes off from nationally ranked leaders at Oklahoma University. On Saturday, UH slipped several spots to number six, with UH Sophomore James Moran-Horton, an alumni from Lahainaluna High School, tied at 11th place on the player leaderboard.

Skye Inakoshi Drive #9. Photo credit: Melissa Dupuis

After round two, teammate UH Junior Skye Inakoshi (Mid-Pac) was tied at 25th place; Scott Yamashita was tied at 48th; Cameron Kaneko was tied at 80th; and Samuel Schwartz was tied at 84th.

Hawaii’s other team is in 18th place with Chayutpol Kittirattanapaiboon tied at 43rd; Justin Chu tied at 70th; Bryden Salvador tied at 84th; Justin Tokioka tied at 92nd; and Chad McLay at 100th.

Along with several other teams, the University of Hawaiʻi team struggled on the closing 18th hole and lost five strokes as a team, standing at 6th place after 36 holes (+13).  The average score on the 440-yard par 4 ,18th hole was 4.6 for the field, with Friday’s top five teams losing on average of 2.5 strokes on Saturday on 18.  Legendary golfer Arnold Palmer once stated, “Ka’anapali’s #18 hole is one of the toughest finishing holes in golf” and it truly tested the players’ skills on Saturday.

Ronn Miyashiro, Head Coach of UH commented about his team on Friday saying, “Our goal for every tournament is to get better every day.  The guys have been on the road a lot recently for tournaments and the additional playing and practice time is paying off.”

Miyashiro noted that the team has been averaging 11 strokes better as a team than fall of 2014, with each player averaging 1-2 strokes per round ahead of last year. Miyashiro reminded his team, “focus on and play your own game, don’t worry about what everyone else is doing.”

Rylee Reinertson Oklahoma T1 on tee 15. Photo credit: Melissa Dupuis.

About the course setup, Miyashiro added, “The Royal Kāʻanapali Course played great today – the greens were rolling perfectly and if you got your putt online, it was going in.” UH has two teams playing in the event this weekend.

Growing up in Lahaina and playing for the Lunas, some might think Moran-Horton had some extra pressure going into this tournament at Kāʻanapali.

Miyashiro spoke with James before the event saying, “You don’t have to do anything ‘extra’ to play well this weekend – just go out and play like it’s any other day.” During round 1, James had a strong day, with 5 birdies, a sand-save on the 7th hole and only one hiccup on the par 4, 18th. After playing well last weekend on Kauaʻi, Miyashiro bumped up Inakoshi to the UH – Team A for this weekend and it paid off with Skye’s (-3) on Friday.

The No. 14 Oklahoma men’s golf team (Golfweek/Sagarin rankings) is stacked with two players in the top four spots after round two.

Oklahoma Head Coach, Ryan Hybl said, “It’s a great way to start out here, and I’m proud of our guys.” He added, “We finished strong coming down the stretch and that was huge for us.”

The third and final round begins with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start on the par 71 at the Royal Ka’anapali Course on Sunday, Nov. 8, 2015.

Spectators are welcome to walk the course during the 3-day tournament. Daily results are available online.

Hawaii, James Moran-Hortan. Photo credit: Aric Becker.

Oklahoma, Grant Hirschman. Photo credit: Aric Becker.

Georgia, Zach Healy. Photo credit: Aric Becker.

Ball state Johnny Watts. Photo credit: Aric Becker.