At the R.E. Lamkin Invitational in San Diego in March, BYU freshman golfer Kihei A. Akina (’29) was working off just two hours of sleep. The day before he’d been at the Puerto Rico Open, making his first cut for the PGA Tour, before catching a red-eye to California with no time to rest or warm up before joining his BYU team for the next tournament. Still, he finished at 14-under par—enough to win his first collegiate invitational.
“It was pretty cool to have all my team watching me on the last hole,” Akina says. His performance helped BYU finish third overall. A high school state champion coming off a win at the Utah Open, Akina came to BYU with big expectations. With PGA play and already two invitational individual wins, he’s hitting his stride. On the course, “I don’t really think about the expectations so much,” Akina says. “I’m going from shot to shot, taking it step-by-step.”
Up next? “We want to play well in regionals and get ourselves to the national championship, and then we’ll see what we can do there. We’re trending in the right direction.”
19: Akina’s age when he became the youngest person ever to win the Larry H. Miller Utah Open in its 99-year history.
Back-to-back: In March Akina claimed two collegiate invitational wins in a row followed by a second-place finish.
9-under par: With this career-lowest 18-hole round, Akina captured his second tournament win at the Bridgestone Collegiate Invitational with a 21-under total (BYU’s best since the 1999–2000 season).
