3.11.2007-- Chan Kim (2006 Hawaii State High School Individual Champion) seemed to have cruised to his victory today at sunny Pearl Country Club to the naked eye but after his final round he said he was fighting some demons within while playing. One thing was clear was that nobody was going to catch or beat Chan on this day but Chan himself. Kim played his first nine-holes (#10-18) today with a 3-under par on the card and thru 63 holes he had it to 10-under for the tournament. His closest competitor, the defending champion Toru Nakajima was at 4-under for the tournament at the same point and beyond him nobody else was even in the same galaxy. Kim started hot on the finishing nine (#1-9) with birdies on holes 1 & 2 to move him to 12-under for the tournament and even Nakajima at this point started to drift outside of the galaxy Chan was in managing only pars on the same holes. Chan's lead increased to 8 shots heading into the par 3 3rd hole. Then one of the demons crept in as Kim pulled his tee shot left and long. He failed to convert on his up and down while Nakajima pared and cut Kim's lead to 7 strokes. Kim and Nakajima carded pars on the par 4 4th and then teed off on the par 5 5th. Each player hit good tee shots and both were in the fairway and in good position to go for the green in two. Nakajima hit his second shot just short of the green while Chan hit his past the pin to the right where his ball came to rest in some thick ruff. Kim played his third shot to a pin cut front right and his ball came to rest on the green leaving him a difficult left to righter for birdie. Nakajima chipped up close and tapped in his birdie. Chan's birdie putt was too strong as it slid by the hole coming to rest some 5 feet away from the hole leaving him a slight right to lefter for his par. He went through his routine and stroke it but missed and carded a bogey 6. Nakajima was now 5 shots back with 4 to play. On the par 3 6th, Nakajima hit the green and two putted for his par while Kim missed long just off the back of the green and in the ruff. He had a delicate chip coming up for his second shot short siding himself to a pin cut back middle on a green that slopes from back to front. Calmly Chan played a soft shot which came to rest about 15 inches away and tapped in for his par 3. On the par 4 7th, Kim hit the green in regulation and two putted from about 25 feet above the hole to a pin cut front right while Nakajima made a par the hard way after driving it off the tee in thick ruff to the right of the fairway bunker. He only managed to advance his ball about 60 yards for his second shot having to stand in the bunker and hack at his ball which was well above his feet and in thick ruff. From about 10 yards away Nakajima chipped up for his third to about a foot and tapped in for his par 4. Kim and Nakajima both carded par 4's on the 8th and then it was off to the final hole the par 4 9th (tournament #72). At this point, Chan was at 10-under for the tournament while Nakajima was at 5-under. On the final hole Nakajima stuck his approach shot to about 4 feet while Kim's came to rest about 20 feet away. Kim putted first and his birdie try slid past the hole leaving him about a 3 footer for his par. Nakajima jarred his tweeter to finish at 6-under par for the tournament good for 2nd place while Kim missed his par putt and tapped in his bogey 5 for the 3 shot win. Chan Kim's total was 9-under par 279 (72-67-70-70). Rounding out the top three, the reigning U.S. Amateur Public Links Champion, Casey Watabu from Kauai who closed with another red number a 2-under par 70 and a tournament total of 2-under par 286 (72-75-69-70). Watabu will be playing in the 2007 Masters Tournament next month and we all will be cheering him on! Full field final scores are now posted click here.