Hunter Larson eyes his greenside chip on hole 13 on the Royal Kaanapali Course.

KAANAPALI — Propelled by back-to-back rounds of 65 on the Royal Kaanapali Golf Course, Nanea Golf Club’s Juan Rodriguez and Hunter Larson defeated Kapalua Golf Academy’s Ben Hongo and Douglas Bohn in the first playoff hole to win the 2023 Kaanapali Pro-Pro Championship Presented by Golf Concepts.

“My modus operandi on hole 18, when we had a chance to get into a playoff, was to bring it home for Juan,” said Hunter Larson, PGA Director of Instruction. “It’s such a cool story to see him win on the same course that his uncle (Chi Chi Rodriguez) did years ago on the Senior PGA Tour.”

The winner of 37 worldwide professional events, Chi Chi Rodriguez won the first two years of the Senior SKINS Game at Kaanapali in 1988 and 1989.

The Big Island duo is no stranger to the winner’s circle. Larson was the 2022 Aloha Section PGA Player of the Year and 2018 Aloha Section winner in the National Car Rental Assistant PGA Championship. Rodriguez, a longtime veteran in Hawaii golf, won the 2017 E-Z-GO Facilities Team Championship.

Rodriguez, the PGA Assistant Professional at Nanea Golf Club, commented, “Today I was just trying to hit the ball as good as I could. I got lucky the first few holes and made some birdies that kept us going.”

Playing partner Larson added, “My strategy for about ten holes in the final round was just watching this guy play great golf. Juan played amazing on the front nine. We lost a little momentum on ten and couldn’t keep it going when Doug (Bohn) was playing so good behind us. Our strategy quickly turned to, ‘Okay, we need to start making birdies or we’re going to lose this.’ “

Rodriguez chimed in, “I have played with Hunter many times. One thing that I believe the most when you play as a team is not to get too involved in what other people are doing — just let them be who they are. The more you behave like yourself, the better the results are.”

Hongo and Bohn of Kapalua Golf Academy came in second place after the playoff with a two-day total of 12-under-par.

Antonio Aranda (Kapalua Bay Golf Course) and Dawn Kaneshiro (pro) placed third. Defending champions Chris Shimomura (Golf Assistant at Kaanapali) and Kevin Shimomura (Ko Olina) finished fourth in the 36-hole four-ball stroke play event.

The Shimomura brothers scored a skin in the final round with an eagle on the par-five 9th hole.

“We were delighted to return to Kaanapali for this storied tournament,” said Wes Wailehua, executive director of the Aloha Section PGA.

“The West Maui layout provided a great challenge to many of our state’s best PGA Professionals.”

This year marked the 17th time that Kaanapali has hosted the Pro-Pro Championship.

As noted by Karl Reul, general manager of Kaanapali Golf Courses, “It’s great for our community to be able to see the state’s best compete in this annual event.”