The old adage says it's not how you start but how you finish.

The Hawai'i Hilo men's golf team rode that logic all the way to the Pacific West Conference championship. Now, they have also parlayed that hot finish to the three special awards for the 2023 season.

Fifth-year senior Andrew Otani is the PacWest Golfer of the Year, newcomer Junsu Im is the Freshman of the Year and veteran coach Earl Tamiya is the Coach of the Year. The awards were voted on by the PacWest Conference coaches.

To call Earl Tamiya a "veteran coach" is an understatement. The beloved leader has been the coach of the Vulcans since 1991 and at 81 years of age, redefines the term veteran. Tamiya coached his team this season, after a very slow start, to peak at the right time to win their first conference championship since 2014.

The Vulcans finished no better than seventh at any of the Fall or Spring tournaments through the end of March. But they served notice at the NCAA Spring Preview in April that they might just be coming around. UHH finished third in the 21-team field, just a week before the PacWest tournament. They then carried that momentum into Arizona, where they led from start to finish and claimed the banner by 10 strokes.

One of the reasons for that strong finish was Andrew Otani. The super senior, who began his career by winning the PacWest Freshman of the Year award in 2019, shared the 2023 medalist award with teammate Im. Otani rode rounds of 69-73-75 to finish at +1 for the tournament. He was consistent throughout the three days and had eight birdies. 

His rookie teammate Junsu Im had a similar story. Finishing at +1 as well, the British Columbia native turned in scorecards of 71-71-75. He had 10 birdies during the three days. Im and Otani are the first Vulcans to win medalist honors since 2011.

Otani and Im are also First Team All-PacWest members, of course, along with teammate Keith Ng. Holy Names standouts Luke Dugger and Edvin Backstrom were also selected to the First Team. It was Otani and Dugger's third selection to an All-PacWest Team, and the second for Ng and Backstrom.

Additionally, Hawai'i Hilo's Dustin Franko earned his third All-PacWest honor and HNU's Blas Ayesa grabbed his third. 

The Vulcans will now move on to the NCAA West Region tournament, as will Holy Names who secured an at-large berth. The Vulcans and Hawks will tee it up May 11-13 in Rohnert Park, California at the Foxtail Golf Club. The top three teams from the West Regional will advance to the NCAA Championships in Warren, Ohio, May 22-26.

*Previous All-PacWest selection