Kauai High boys golf ties for fourth at state championship

Kauai High School’s boys golf team tied for fourth place at the David Ishii Foundation Hawaii High School Boys Golf Championship, finishing with Mililani after two days at Kaneohe Klipper Golf Course on Oahu and putting itself inside the top tier of a 96-player state field.

The result gave Kauai another clear measure of where its golf program stands in Hawaii’s high school hierarchy. Punahou won the team title, while Bret Kiyuna of Punahou took the individual crown at 3-over par 147. Against that standard, Kauai’s fourth-place tie showed the Red Raiders can stay in the conversation with the state’s best programs, but still need more scoring depth to turn a strong finish into a title run.

Senior Stirling McLoughlin led Kauai with a 158, good for a tie for 18th. Waimea senior Koy Tsukayama followed at 160 and tied for 26th. Kauai High’s Caleb Ito and Kapaa golfer Logan Laymon each posted 163 and tied for 32nd, while Renyn Lee shot 167, Caleb Taba 170 and Shane Murphy 184. The spread across the lineup mattered: Kauai had enough low scores to hold fourth, but not enough room for error to close the gap on the teams ahead of it.

Coach Paul Ito said the course played especially hard for the 96 boys who qualified, with wind and difficult pin positions demanding precise ball-striking and careful misses around the greens. That kind of setup tends to separate programs that can simply survive from those that can control a championship round, and Kauai’s result suggested the Red Raiders are closer to the second group than the first.

For Kauai golf, the finish also offered a useful benchmark across the county. The girls state tournament at the same Kaneohe Klipper course earlier in May saw Kapaa finish 10th with a 629, while Sydney Ito was the top Kauai girl at 51st with 187. Taken together, the boys and girls results show a county program that is producing state qualifiers and top-half finishes, but still needs more players capable of finishing in the 150s and lower if Kauai is going to move from a respectable fourth-place showing into true championship contention.