KANE'OHE — Maybe it's something in the water of Lake Wilson.

Wahiawa's William Enomoto and Bev Kim sank their final putts to win the third annual State Senior Amateur Championships yesterday at Kane'ohe Klipper golf course. Enomoto is 60 and Kim will be next year.

Kim probably felt that old by the time she and Jade Merkle, a Senior "Rookie" at age 50, made their way to the fourth playoff hole. They bogeyed the first three — each giving away one good chance at winning — before Kim hit the par-3 fourth hole and two-putted for par to end it.

Enomoto's victory was also enough to make him feel old. He took a one-stroke lead over Kailua's Gary Haynie into yesterday's final round and had to be good to the last shot to win.

Enomoto's drive on the 15th landed in the sand out of bounds. The ensuing double bogey and Haynie's missed birdie putts from within 10 feet on the 16th and 17th took them to the par-3 18th all even.

Enomoto's tee shot stopped just short of the green and he chipped to 4 feet above the hole. Haynie's tee shot landed halfway up the slope left of the hole. His chip went only a few feet out of the high grass and his par putt from the fringe burned the upper edge of the hole and rolled 10 feet by.

Haynie slam-dunked his bogey putt to make Enomoto's scary 4-footer look much longer, but his par putt went into the heart of the hole to give him a one-shot victory.

"I felt I needed to make that putt because I had overheard someone say we were tied," Enomoto said. "I knew I hit my spot so even if it hadn't gone in I would have considered it a good putt."

Enomoto, who had been working at the Kalakaua cart barn (until the course closed last year) since retiring from Verizon three years ago, closed with a 78 for a two-day total of 7-over 151. It was just enough to beat a men's field of 63.

Kim outlasted a women's field of 19, but most memorably Merkle, who was blowing drives 20 yards by the Hawai'i Golf Hall of Famer for two days. Kim went into the final round with a one-shot advantage over Biac Frame and two over Lily Yao and Merkle, who shot an 83 yesterday to catch up.

Kim, who won State Match Play Championships 25 years apart, still competes successfully against the current crop of kid wonders such as Stephanie Kono, Kimberly Kim and Mari Chun. What was it like to play with 50-year-olds as opposed to 15-year-olds?

"I should say there's no difference, right? You play the course, right?" Kim said. "But I think I enjoy playing the 15-year-olds because they are so unpredictable."

The last time Kim won, as far as she could remember, was last year's Waialae Country Club Invitational. That gave her a string of WCC victories in five straight decades. Grandma duty might prevent her from winning again anytime soon; daughter Heidi is expecting twins in May.

Enomoto couldn't remember if he had ever won a tournament before. The closest he came was second in A Flight at the U.S. Army Invitational.

NOTES

Gary Haynie, Hawai'i's representative in this year's USGA Senior Amateur Championship, won the C Flight (ages 62 to 69) for the second straight year.

The oldest players (Willie Perreira and Betty Roth) won $50 gift certificates. Roth took second low net in her flight for another $90 and Perreira won fourth low net, for another $50. A total of $3,760 in certificates were given out to low gross and low net winners, with the overall (low gross) winners getting $300 (men) and $200 (women).

The University of Hawai'i Fall Invitational will be at Klipper today, tomorrow and Wednesday. The Rainbow Wahine's 19th annual Dr. Donnis Thompson Invitational will be at Klipper March 21 and 22.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.