Gabriel Wilson is expected to contend for his fourth straight Big Island Amateur Championship, Aug. 8 to 10, at Mauna Lani's Francis H. I'i Brown North Golf Course.

This is the 85th annual Big Island Amateur. The 54-hole stroke-play event is the longest running amateur championship in the Western U.S.

Golfers will compete in A (handicap index between 6.6 and 12) and Championship (0 to 6.5) Flights. Winner of the Championship Flight is the 2008 Big Island Amateur champion.

Entry fee is $200. All entrants must be year-round Big Island residents for the past two years and able to provide current proof of residency.

Other former champions expected to play include Douglas Oki, Jeff Strang and KC Bothelo.

Entry forms are available at area shops or maunalani.com. For more information, contact Nao Tamashiro (885-6655).

MARCH OF DIMES

TEE IT UP WITH TADD

March of Dimes will hold its inaugural Tadd Fujikawa Invitational, presented by HMAA, Aug. 12 at the Kapolei Golf Course. The tournament has a shotgun start at noon. Format is two-person best-ball shamble and cost is $300 per player.

"By participating in this tournament, your support will go to improving the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality," said Carmella Hernandez, state director of March of Dimes Hawai'i. "Had Tadd been born before 1970, his story may have been very different."

Fujikawa, a Moanalua High School senior who turned pro at 16 and is playing in Japan this week, was born three months premature. Before March of Dimes started newborn intensive care units in hospitals across the country, and surfactant therapy was discovered to help babies with underdeveloped lungs, 70 percent of premature babies died. Today, 90 percent survive.

"I'm living proof that miracles do happen," Fujikawa said, "thanks to the March of Dimes and the newborn intensive care units (NICU) they started in hospitals across the country, including the first NICU at Kapi'olani Medical Center."

For more information about sponsorship, donations and teams, please call the March of Dimes at 973-2155.