BLAINE, Washington – If three tournaments are any indicator, watching Hawai'i Hilo's Keith Ng and HPU's Keita Okada battle it out all season is going to be a golf fans delight.
Ng birdied the 17th hole and parred 18 to sneak past Okada at the Western Washington Invite on Tuesday at the Loomis Trail Golf Club to claim medalist honors. Ng finished the two-day, 36-hole tournament at -1 under par (71-72) to edge Okada by a shot (70-74). Ng, a junior from nearby Richmond, British Columbia, topped Okada by four strokes in the season-opening HPU Sharks Shootout, and Okada won last week's Saint Martin's Invitational.
"That boy has ice in his veins," said Vulcan head coach Earl Tamiya of Ng. "Assistant coach Sean Maekawa walked with him the whole way and deserves a lot of the credit. Keith really isn't scared of the moment and twice now has come from behind on the final day to win a tournament.
"It was a tough course with wet conditions, but that didn't bother Keith or Andrew today."
Ng's teammate Andrew Otani had the second best round of anyone on the course, firing a 70 to jump up into third place overall at +2 (76-70). His round on Tuesday included five birdies. The Vulcans finished tied for third place in the nine-team tournament, just three shots back of champion Chico State (+20). Montana State Billings was second (+22), with the Vulcans, Simon Fraser and Cal State San Bernardino tied in the third slot (+23).
Host Western Washington, who won last week's St. Martin's Invite, was sixth, followed by HPU, Saint Martin's and Northwest Nazarene.
Ng (pronounced "Ing"), was in second place on Monday, one shot behind Okata--who won the Pacific West Conference Championships last spring as a freshman. Ng shot a 71 yesterday and then locked down an even-par 72 today, with five birdies and five bogeys. He knocked in a five-foot putt on 18 for par to seal the win.
After Ng and Otani, the next Vulcans were Dustin Franko in 14th place (76-74), Noah Lau (83-77) and Nicholas Gomez (83-80).
Ng has played in three tournaments as a Vulcan and won two of them. He joins a pretty short list of UH Hilo golfers who won two tournaments in their entire careers (Blake Snyder, Jared Kinoshita). Four others hold the UH Hilo record with three tournament victories in their careers--Nick Mason, James Hall, Logan Goulding and Dalen Yamauchi.
2021 WWU Invitational Individual Leaderboard
| NAME |
PLACE |
SCORE |
RD TOTALS |
NOTES |
| K. Ng |
No. 1 |
-1 |
71–72 (143) |
10 Birdies |
| A. Otani |
No. 3 |
+2 |
76–70 (146) |
6 Birdies |
| D. Franko |
No. T14 |
+6 |
76–74 (150) |
6 Birdies |
| N. Lau |
No. T42 |
+16 |
83–77 (160) |
2 Birdies |
| N. Gomez |
No. 47 |
+19 |
83–80 (163) |
4 Birdies |
2021 WWU Invitational
| TEAM |
TO PAR |
RD SCORES |
TOP SCORER |
| 1. Chico State |
+20 |
306–290 (596) |
4 – T. Ashman |
| 2. MSU Billings |
+22 |
305–293 (598) |
6 – B. Finn |
| T3. Simon Fraser |
+23 |
304–295 (599) |
4 – R. Stolys |
| T3. Hawai'i Hilo |
+23 |
306–293 (599) |
1 – K. Ng |
| T3. Cal State San Bernardino |
+23 |
310–289 (599) |
6 – J. Sivongsay |
| 6. Western Washington |
+27 |
315–288 (603) |
6 – J. Lee |
| 7. HPU |
+42 |
300–318 (618) |
2 – K. Okada |
| 8. Saint Martin's |
+44 |
312–308 (620) |
10 – D. Geissler |
| 9. Northwest Nazarene |
+56 |
336–296 (632) |
25 – C. Evarts |
