By Michael Iwahiro
Hot, hot, hot are the only words to describe the blistering play of the winning foursomes on an otherwise mild day at the Turkey Creek Golf Club in Lincoln, California, where 100 or so golfers converged on a recent Sunday morning, September 17, 2017, in support of the ABAS Law Foundation and the 2018 Lady Barons. This is the third time in as many years that ABAS and the Lady Barons have joined forces to co-produce an annual golf tournament fundraiser. Come this time next year, the young Lady Barons will have graduated and moved on to new and exciting things. We wish them all the best. It has been a great run together.
Back to those spectacularly low scores: Seeded in flight No. 2, the grand champions, namely, Randy Kajioka, Curtis Ishii, Russell Tanihana and Jonathan Tanihana, carded a scorching 53. That’s 19 under. Damn. The 53 is most likely* a modern-day ABAS tournament record. (*ABAS official records go back only as far as the writer’s sketchy memory.) The foursome that included Elk Grove Mayor Steve Ly and playing partners Ker Vue, Kou Xiong and Edward Thao garnered top honors in flight No. 3 with a smoldering 54. The best score in flight No. 1 was a burning 59 posted by Team Fong, a three-time former grand champion (2009, 2011 and 2014), this year composed of golfers Rob Fong, Christian Fong, Jerry Way and Chuck Baird. All three flight winners in the 50’s! Folks, there was some great golf going on out there on Sunday.
But mortal ABAS tournament golfers take heart: Rumor has it that this year’s unprecedented low scores have prompted your Rules Committee to consider adding a fourth flight—for those special golfers who have regained their amateur status less than 24 hours before the tournament start. Smile.
Seriously now, although our golf tournament is and always has been about fun, fun, fun, our purpose is all business. Sincere thanks go out to our loyal golfers, sponsors and contributors—because of you and your generosity, the Foundation has the funding necessary to carry out its charitable work for the year. To you we say, thank you for allowing the Foundation to continue its long-standing scholarship program, which fosters development of some of the best and brightest law students in our community. And thank you for allowing the Foundation to produce its new “Presents” and “Speaker Series,” which bring to our community thought provoking speakers and events focused on matters of current concern and interest. Please visit our website at abaslawfoundation.org to learn more about our sponsors and contributors, scholarship program, and “Presents” and “Speaker Series” offerings.
Finally, a special note of gratitude and congratulations to this year’s new Golf Tournament Committee Chair, Eric Dair. Well done! And special thanks to Mayor Darrell Steinberg for once again serving as our Honorary Tournament Chair.
Until next time—Fairways and Greens to All.
