Super sophomore Fujikawa accelerates his learning curve  PGATOUR.com Chief of Correspondents HONOLULU, Hawaii -- Tadd Fujikawa hopes his teachers cut him a little slack when he returns to high school on Tuesday. They should. After all, the 16-year-old sophomore certainly upped the learning curve Saturday at the Sony Open in Hawaii as he went from making the cut to the top 10 on the leader board through three rounds of the $5.5 million event.  Tadd Fujikawa has plenty to smile about at Waialae. (Marco Garcia/WireImage)
The diminutive Fujikawa, who stands just 5-foot-1, delighted his large and vocal gallery Saturday with the variety of fist pumps that followed all those birdie putts as he shot his second-straight 66 to move to 7 under. So the youngest player to make the cut on the PGA TOUR in the last 50 years is tied for eighth with Craig Kanada, K.J. Choi and Robert Allenby, six strokes off the lead held by Charles Howell III. "I hope my teachers are nice to me," Fujikawa, who was front-page news on Saturday morning, said shyly. "I hope they are not mad. ... I don't know how much work I'm going to have to get caught up on, but I'm sure it's quite a bit." He certainly did his homework at Waialae Country Club, playing the course repeatedly after surviving a 10-man qualifier in mid-December. Fujikawa opened with a 1-over 71 but his next two rounds have been textbook. "I think today I was a lot more comfortable than yesterday," Fujikawa said. "I think that's probably because I don't have anything to lose right now. And I already made the cut so I don't have to worry about anything like that. "And I just want to go out there, have fun, do the best that I can and hopefully I can do good and shoot some low numbers." The young Hawaiian never saw his name on the leader boards on Saturday -- "I guess I wasn't looking at the right moment," he said. But Steve Stricker, who played with Fujikawa in the Monday pro-am, wasn't surprised when he did. Fujikawa shot 65 that day, which also happened to be his 16th birthday. "I was keeping his score and I was like, 'This little guy's beating me, ' " said Stricker, who was four shots off the teen's pace. "I've been telling every pro that I run into that I played with him on Monday in the pro-am," said Stricker, who will start the final round at 9 under. "I was really impressed by the way he handled himself, and the way he played. "You know, I was trying to think back to what I was doing at 16 and it surely wasn't trying to get ready to play in a golf tournament on the PGA TOUR. So it's really pretty remarkable what he's doing." Fujikawa was born three months premature and weighed just 31 ounces, and he proved equally resilient on the golf course Saturday. He was hardly rattled by that bogey on No. 2, responding with six birdies and dropping just one more shot to par on the way home. " (I thought) just stick to my game plan," Fujikawa said, thinking back to the second hole, where he failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker. "I have a lot more holes to go. Just really stay focused and stay in the moment." Nathan Green, who played with Fujikawa on Saturday, was clearly impressed by the poise the teenager showed on the golf course -- not to mention his golf game. "His length's good," the Aussie said. "For me (though), it's just the control he has over his ball flight. Into the breeze he was able to keep it low and down breeze, he varied his ball flight a lot and shaped a lot of shots in there, which for the younger guys, is usually something you learn by trial and error. "He handled himself well. Even when he sort of had it going, his course management was perfect and it would easily to get pretty rushed and do something silly." Green, who has played with Tiger Woods before, wasn't surprised by the size -- or the passion of the crowd -- on Saturday. "I knew it was going to be pretty big, being a weekend and especially with Michelle (Wie) not playing so there was good support out here for him," he said. "It's great he was able to handle that pressure and perform the way he did." Fujikawa was 12 years old the first time Wie played in the Sony Open in Hawaii, trying to become the first woman to make the cut in a PGA TOUR event since Babe Didrikson Zaharias in 1945. She missed by one stroke that year of doing what he did on Friday. "I think that really gave the Hawaii juniors ... something to strive for," Fujikawa said. "I think it kind of told them, you know, you can do to, too. If she can do it, then you can do it, and gave them kind of an inspiration to do better. "And I think that's why Hawaii golf nowadays is improving and there's a lot more great players coming out of Hawaii, you know, like Dean Wilson, Parker (McLachlin), Michelle, Kimberly Kim. I think it's just great for golf, period." Many would say the same about Fujikawa, who qualified for the U.S. Open at Winged Foot last year. He may be the only Hawaiian remaining in the field, but he said he feels no undue pressure. "Absolutely not," Fujikawa said firmly. "I'm not playing for money. This isn't my job. I'm just out here having fun, just soaking up all of the moments. ... And if it works out, then great." Rest assured, though, that Fujikawa sees his future on the PGA TOUR. Two years ago the self-confessed golf junkie began to develop a game plan that would help him realize his dream. "I really thought, what do I need to do to improve my game and what's my priorities," Fujikawa said. "And right now, golf is definitely my priority. Golf and school are the two things that I really enjoy and really want to do well in. "So, yeah, I'd say I love this job. It's the greatest thing in the world for a job. You know, something you really enjoy doing and you can become a millionaire in one week." Copyright 2007 PGATOUR.com. All rights reserved. |
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