Kaua'i's Casey Watabu won the 17th hole with a par and held off James Love of Canada, 1 up, in the first round of match play of the 106th U.S. Amateur yesterday at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn.

Watabu, of Kapa'a, faces Trip Kuehne of Dallas in the second round today. Kuehne defeated Chris Rogers, of Franklin, Tenn., 5 and 3, yesterday. The third round also will be played today.

Watabu, 22, won the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship last month.

BARBERS POINT TOURNEY OPENS TOMORROW

A couple of Manoa Cup champs and a couple of state high school champs are sprinkled through the championship flight of the Barbers Point Invitational. The amateur event tees off at 7 a.m. tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday, with the field cut in half after the second round.

Kaimuki junior Chan Kim, the reigning state high school champion, is playing, as is Troy Higashiyama, who won the 2003 title.

Kellen-Floyd Asao and Brandan Kop are the Manoa Cup winners in the field. University of Hawai'i senior Pierre-Henri Soero, who played in the 2005 U.S. Open, and Samuel Rodriguez III, who just won his second Amatour event, also are in the 46-player flight.

Spencer Shishido won last year's title.

TOP DOCS ON THE LINKS

Three Hawai'i doctors made Golf Digest's list of the Top 250 Golfer Doctors in America, published in its August issue. Doctors from 34 states are included.

Honolulu thoracic surgeon Michael Dang, whose handicap index is 8.3, is the highest-ranked Hawai'i doctor at No. 143. He is followed by Steve Berman (T187 at 10.3) and Robert Wilkinson (228th at 11.8).

The magazine estimates there are some 100,000 golfers among America's 885,000 physicians.

The list includes M.D.s and D.O.s (Doctors of Medicine and Doctors of Osteopathy).

The magazine contacted medical and golf associations, and doctors included in the Castle Connolly annual guide America's Top Doctors (fourth edition). Golf Digest also considered doctors ranked in regional magazines and cited by colleagues.

NOTES

Play Golf America's PGA Free Lesson Month set record numbers nationwide. More than 147,000 free lessons were given in May, a 21 percent increase from last year. The initiative is sponsored by the PGA of America, Golf Digest, The Golf Channel and Golf for Women. Nike Golf, official program sponsor, provided prizes to help reach new golfers and help existing golfers improve their game.

Former Kailua resident Scott Simpson shot a career-low 61 in the second round of last week's Boeing Greater Seattle Classic. It was a shot better than the 62 he fired in the 1991 Hawaiian Open. Simpson is in his first full year on the Champions Tour.