The confusion was understandable.

When Anthony Kang won the Maybank Malaysian Open three weeks ago, a lot of the Western media thought the report out of Kuala Lumpur meant Anthony Kim, also an Asian-American of Korean descent, who skipped the PGA Tour's AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am to play in the Asian Tour event.

After all, Kim is a rising star in the world of golf, earning $4.6 million to finish sixth on the 2008 PGA Tour money list and ranked 11th in the world starting the year. Kang, who at age 36 is 13 years older than Kim, finished the 2008 season ranked No. 317 in the world, while playing on the Asian Tour. (He's now No. 142.)

Well, the other less heralded "AK" won the Malaysian Open with a 17-under-par 271 to pocket $333,330 — the biggest paycheck of his career — while Kim finished 10 strokes back to tie for 33rd.

Kang's victory might not be that big of a deal, but it should be to golf fans here.

He's a Roosevelt High School (Class of 1990) local boy who made good. He grew up in Honolulu after his parents moved here from South Korea in 1982, playing junior golf and later for the Rough Riders. Kang was a 10th-grader when he won the 1988 Korean Invitational Tournament at the Pali Golf Course. He went by his Korean name, Mun Chol, back then.

Kang played collegiate golf at Oregon State, graduating in 2005. Except for a vacation, he hasn't been back to Hawai'i since 2001. But we finally got a chance to catch up with Kang, thanks to Adam Schupak, who covers the Asian Tour for GolfWeek.

"I did play for Roosevelt and remember many people that I played together with in high school as well as junior golf," Kang said by e-mail.

He never had any thought he'd be playing professional golf when he first took up the game.

"My parents wanted to do some family activity. Somehow, they chose golf and we all started together," Kang said. "We received no formal instructions. I just remember spending weeknights at Kapi'olani Driving Range and playing weekend golf at Ala Wai, all four of us, all the time." The "we" included his brother David, who also won the Korean Invitational in 1997.

Kang hopes to return to Hawai'i some time soon for a vacation with his family — wife, Jennifer, and their children, Kalia and Braden. "The kids want to go to the beach and are curious about where daddy grew up."

After getting his college degree, Kang decided to give the Asian Tour a try "for two years," while using Las Vegas and then Phoenix since 2003 as his home base. But it's a hotel room week after week when he's on the road on the Asian Tour. Last week it was Indonesia, this week it's Phuket, Thailand, and next week it's New Delhi, India. But don't feel sorry for him. He has already earned more than $1.24 million in beginning his 10th year on the Asian Tour. And coming from Hawai'i with its varied ethnic environment obviously has helped Kang overcome the tour's many changes in customs and food entailed in traveling between countries in the Far East.

Kang won twice early and thought the victories would come on a regular basis. But the win at the Malaysian was his first since the 2001 Myanmar Open. "After eight long years, I will definitely cherish this one," he said. "Especially since this will give me exempt status on both the Asian and European tours through 2011."

Securing a multi-year exemption now gives Kang an opportunity to perhaps try several tournaments in the states. It's definitely in the back of his mind. "I just want to polish up my game so that if the PGA Tour is in my future, my game will be ready for me to not only get there but to stay there," said Kang, whose only PGA appearance is a T74 finish in the 2001 U.S. Open at Southern Hills.

Traveling the Asian Tour is a familiar path once taken by a lot of Americans, most notably David Toms, Tom Lehman, Bob Tway and the late Payne Stewart. Also, a familiar local face, Dean Wilson, who's beginning his seventh year on the PGA Tour. Interestingly, thanks to his victory in Malaysia, Kang moved ahead of Wilson (No. 169) in the latest world golf rankings.

"I did not know Dean very well in Hawai'i. He was older and played in a different (age) bracket in junior golf. I got to know him better in Asia as we spent one year together, but he went off to Japan the following year and I have seen him only a few times since," Kang said.

"I have not tried any tour school since 2001 and the reason is that I was fully exempt on this (Asian) tour. There is a lot to be said for being able to schedule out the year instead of waiting for a call to get into events," said Kang, who has seen the tremendous growth of the Asian Tour. It has more than 30 tournaments and added prize money now that many of its events are joint-sanctioned with the European, Australasian and Japan tours.

"The mentality is, the U.S. is it. There's no other place," Kang told GolfWeek. "But for me, this tour has become home."

Winning in Malaysia has opened more doors to European Tour events, broadening Kang's golf horizon. Who knows? Maybe the Western media might now get to know which "AK" is which.

"Anthony Kim has achieved a lot on the world stage in a short period of time and all credit to him. He seems like a likable kid," Kang said. "It does not bother me that we got mixed up. I am just happy to see Korean foremost and all Asian golfers do well around the world."

There's another way you'll be able to tell them apart:

"I do not own an 'AK' belt. I like to keep a low profile," Kang says.

AVID GOLFER SHIMOKO DIES AT AGE 74

Golf lost one of its strongest boosters when Clarence Shimoko, who played more than 300 rounds a year for the last 36 years, died Saturday at home following complication from kidney cancer. He was 74.

"He grinded it out to the end," said his son, Michael. The founder of S&S Saimin is also survived by his wife, Masuzu; son, Leonard; and daughters, Violet Anderson and Lynn Yuasa.

A celebration of life to honor Shimoko will be held March 16 at the Ala Wai Golf Course clubhouse starting at 5:30 p.m. "We want it to be an informal get-together — T-shirts, rubber slippers. My father would have wanted it that way," said Michael Shimoko, who added that Ala Wai is an appropriate venue because it was where his father played most of his rounds of golf.

Burial service will be held the following day at Diamond Head Memorial Park.