'AIEA — Jesse Mueller took a large lead into the final round of the 31st annual Hawai'i Pearl Open yesterday and proceeded to fly balls in from the fairway, multiply his advantage and make the competition disappear.

The Arizona pro closed with a 7-under-par 65 to win by eight shots over first-round leader Makoto Endo. Mueller's three-day total of 19-under 197 tied the tournament record set 11 years ago by Katsumasa Miyamoto.

Mueller, 25, was the Gateway Tour's leading money winner last year, after finishing eighth here. He has scorched Pearl Country Club to the tune of 26-under the past two years.

He won $12,000 yesterday, or about $10,000 less than he got for each of his four Gateway championships last year. He won $171,000 overall, with 16 top-five finishes. The Arizona State graduate put an exclamation point on his win yesterday by eagling Nos. 8 (from 111 yards) and 11 (80 yards) from the fairway.

"Can't explain it," shrugged Mueller. "Hitting it pretty good, hit a couple shots and they just ended up going in."

"I've never seen anything like it," said John Ellis, the 2008 Canadian Tour Player of the Year who came into the final round with a share of second, four shots back, and came out fifth. He was passed by Japanese pros Endo (69—205), and Toshinori Muto (66) and Akira Endo (70) at 206. Muto was 10th last year on the JGTO money list.

Punahou junior Bradley Shigezawa fired a 68 to successfully defend his low amateur title by two shots over 'Iolani freshman Lorens Chan. Shigezawa, who has tryouts for his high school team today, hit every green in regulation but one.

"I knew Lorens had me by two going in so I had to put a good round in," said Shigezawa, who was almost as excited about beating coach Casey Nakama by a shot as he was about defending. "I felt like I left a lot on the course the first day so I had to redeem myself for that."

Shigezawa's fast finish pushed him out of the small slump he's been in the past few months, and can only help catch the eye of college recruiters. He is hoping to play for a Pac-10 school.

"Honestly, I've been struggling a little bit," Shigezawa said. "It feels good to put a good tournament down again. I've been working on my putting, a lot. It kind of showed. I putted pretty well, for me anyway."

At 6-under 210, he shared 15th place overall with six-time Pearl Open champion David Ishii (70) and Hilo pro Jarrett Hamamoto, who shot the day's low round (64). Hawai'i State Open champion Nick Mason and 2006 Public Links champion Casey Watabu were the only Hawai'i players in the top 10. Both closed with 71 to finish at 209, along with two-time Pearl champion Kiyoshi Murota, who represents Turtle Bay.

Masamichi Ito, 13, was low amateur from Japan at 70—215.

Tadd Fujikawa, who won here in 2007, double-bogeyed the final hole to shoot 71 and finish at 212. He was 4-under after the first eight holes.

"It was about the same as Friday," said Fujikawa, who was 5-under after the first 10 holes of the tournament. "I kind of slowed down a little.

"I learn from my mistakes and today I'm learning how to keep my round going. Yesterday, I was learning how, when I'm not doing so well, to turn it around. What I can do differently. Every time you go out and play you are always learning about yourself. ... I need to learn how to keep that good mojo going."

Fujikawa, in his final semester at Moanalua High School, is hoping to play the SBS Open at Turtle Bay Pro-Am Wednesday. He leaves next week for 10 days of training in Georgia, then plays two PGA Tour events, hoping to ride the momentum that had him in contention at last month's Sony Open in Hawai'i.

Mueller's last eagle yesterday gave him an eight-shot cushion and let him enjoy the final holes, where he added two more birdies. For the week, he had four eagles and 16 birdies. His margin of victory could have been wider — he had five bogeys, one yesterday.

"This was his day," said Makoto Endo through an interpreter. The 27-year-old JGTO Challenge Tour golfer opened with a 64 Friday and spent the final two days trying to catch Mueller and keep the Titleist clubs he borrowed Tuesday — after his clubs were stolen — in good enough condition to return. He leaves "so grateful" for the kindness of Hawai'i strangers, and his good finish — in that order.

Endo admitted to playing for second place the final five holes yesterday as he and 175 others in Pearl's diverse field got caught in Mueller's dust.

"He is really precise with his putter," Endo said. "Even when the pin positions are very hard he can get it very close. He has really good control of his putter. Off the tee and with his wedges he is not so bad either."

For Mueller it was just more of the same from a breakthrough 2008 marred only by a poor showing after he made it to the final stage of PGA Tour qualifying. He has partial status on Nationwide Tour this year and hopes to improve that as the year goes on — and return next year for the Sony Open and Pearl. He compares this tournament favorably to what he sees on the Gateway Tour.

"There's more amateurs here, but I'd say the top of the field is very similar to who I play back home," he said. "There are a lot of good players here. ... It's a fun mix. It's different. I don't get a chance to play with a lot of Japanese players in Arizona."

NOTES

Ten golfers, including Punahou sophomore Cyd Okino, will play today for the final two spots in this week's SBS Open at Turtle Bay. The qualifying round will be at the Palmer Course. Okino (76) and Reiko Fujii (77) won yesterday's Prequalifier at the Fazio Course. Moanalua senior Kristina Merkle is the alternate at 78. Play begins at 8 this morning.