Keeping Up With 1994 APL Winner Guy Yamamoto


March 1, 2005

Guy Yamamoto became the third Hawaiian to win the U.S. Amateur Public Links title when he claimed top honors in 1994 at Eagle Bend Golf Club in Big Fork, Mont. - and he beat some big kahunas along the way.

In fact, three of his opponents went on to win on the PGA Tour: Matt Gogel (third round), Notah Begay (semifinals) and finalist Chris Riley, who Yamamoto needed 37 holes to knock off for the championship.

His sterling play, however, was not enough to convince the then-32-year-old Yamamoto that he should take a shot at the pro game.

"We'd been trying to start a family," Yamamoto says of he and his wife Terri. "It just wasn't part of the big picture."

So he remained an amateur, and went on to play in the next nine consecutive Public Links before a wrist injury forced him to sit out the 2004 event at Rush Creek Golf Club in Maple Grove, Minn. He also has thrice qualified for the PGA Tour's Sony Open in Hawaii, an event that has generated plenty of publicity recently due to Hawaii's rising female talent Michelle Wie.

Today Yamamoto is the general manager at New Ewa Beach Golf Club in Oahu. He lives in Waipaha, just outside Honolulu, with his wife and their two young sons, and plays little competitive golf so that he can make time for his kids.

"That's time well spent," he says.

Story written by Alan Bastable of Golf Magazine Properties.