ISLE FILE
Nicklaus, Watson will defend Skins crown
Advertiser Staff
Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson will defend their Wendy's Champions Skins Game title in February when the exhibition moves from Wailea to Ka'anapali Resort. The three-year agreement and the participation of Nicklaus and Watson was officially announced Thursday by executives with ESPN Regional Television, Trans World International and the Ka'anapali Beach Resort Association.
The 21st senior skins game will be played Feb. 23 and 24 at the Royal Ka'anapali Golf Course. The three teams competing against Nicklaus and Watson will be announced later. The event will be televised by ESPN.
Royal Ka'anapali takes over from Wailea's Gold Course, which hosted the past seven years. The event spent 11 years at Mauna Lani on the Big Island before that. The inaugural match was played in 1988 at Turtle Bay and the second at the Mountain Course at the La Quinta Hotel Golf Club in La Quinta, Calif.
"We could not be more pleased to bring this event to a showcase like the Ka'anapali Golf Resort," said Tony Renaud, vice president of new business for ESPN. "With Champions Tour and LPGA events played here at one time, this facility has a history of providing a backdrop to championship-quality golf and this event will do nothing but enhance and build upon that tradition."
The Robert Trent Jones-designed course was site of the LPGA's Kemper Open and the Champions Tour's Ka'anapali Classic. It also hosted the Canada Cup and Shell's Wonderful World of Golf, among its more high-profile events. The event will showcase a multi-million dollar renovation to the course.
The $770,000 total purse is broken down to $30,000 for each of the first six holes, $40,000 for the middle six, $50,000 for holes 13 through 17, and $100,000 for the 18th hole. If no team wins a hole outright, the money is carried over.
Players donate 10 percent of their winnings to charity — half to the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption and half to the charity of their choice.
BASEBALL
HPU SPLITS TWINBILL AGAINST GRAND CANYON
Hawai'i Pacific (20-21) split a pair of non-conference baseball games with Grand Canyon (23-16) yesterday at Phoenix, Ariz.
The Sea Warriors lost the first game, 8-2, and rebounded to win the nightcap, 13-4.
Tripper Chung went 2 for 5 in the second game, driving in four runs, while Andrew Stramek went 3 for 4 with three runs scored and two RBIs.
BEACH VOLLEYBALL
WONG, STOLFUS WIN IN DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Punahou graduate Scott Wong won the first stop on the 2007 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit in the Dominican Republic last weekend. Wong, a volunteer assistant for the Rainbow Wahine last season, is playing with former Rainbow Hans Stolfus, who is from Iowa.
The two American teams won both titles in the Dominican, with Paula Roca (California) and Alicia Polzin (Texas) capturing the women's title. Teams from Canada, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Saint Kitts & Nevis and Trinidad & Tobago played.
The winning teams received $1,500 of the $10,000 purse.
Wong, a three-time All-American at Pepperdine, and Stolfus, the 2005 AVP Rookie of the Year, start their domestic season this weekend at the $200,000 Cuervo Gold Crown Miami Open. They are seeded ninth. Scott's brother Kevin is seeded 10th with partner Karch Kiraly. Kiraly, 46, is making his farewell tour this year.
Punahou graduates Mike Lambert and Stein Metzger are seeded No. 1 at Miami.
GYMNASTICS
MEN'S REGIONAL EVENT AT BLAISDELL ARENA
The USA Men's Regional Gymnastics Championships will wind up today at Blaisdell Arena.
The event features hundreds of gymnasts from Hawai'i, Arizona, California, Nevada.
Current national team member Neal Thompson, 17, who attended Wailupe Elementary, finished second overall Thursday.
The seniors (16- to 18-year-olds) competed Thursday and were to compete in the event finals yesterday.
The events starts at 5 p.m. with awards ceremony at 8:40 p.m.
Today, the younger boys (7-9, 10-11) will compete.
Competition will be held in six events: floor, pommel, rings, vault, parallel bars and high bars.
The top six competitors will represent the region in the Junior Olympics in Oklahoma City, Okla., in May.
TRACK AND FIELD
UH HURDLER AMANAKIS SETS TWO PERSONAL BESTS
University of Hawai'i track and field hurdler Thalia Amanakis set two personal bests in both the 100-meter and 400-meter hurdles at the Azusa Pacific Invitational yesterday in Azusa, Calif.
The sophomore from Sydney, Australia, became the sixth Rainbow Wahine to qualify for the NCAA Regionals after her performance in the 400-meter hurdles.
Amanakis finished the quarter-mile lap in a lifetime-best 1:00.49. She finished third in the competition but was the first collegiate athlete to finish. In addition, Amanakis was fourth in the 100-meter hurdles in 14.46.
Senior Novelle Murray won the discus. The Surrey, British Columbia, native heaved 171-11, surpassing the regional standard for the second consecutive day.
Three other UH athletes placed in the top 10 including freshman Alana Faagai (147-3), who finished fourth. Freshman Brittani Daniels set a new lifetime best of 145-0 after her fifth-place finish. Meghan Weaver placed 10th at 140-1.
Weaver placed sixth in the shot put (44-11 3/4) one day after qualifying for regionals in the event. Murray, who already made standard in the hammer, threw 167-11 for a fifth-place finish.
