David Ishii transformed last year's Mid-Pacific Open into a retro golf tournament, taming Mid-Pacific Country Club and all its gusts, vicious pin placements and frightening rough to outlast Kevin Hayashi.

It wasn't only Ishii's first win since he turned 50 in 2005. "It's my first win in I don't know how many years," he admitted.

He hasn't exactly been slacking. When Ishii tees off in today's first round of the 49th annual tournament he does it as a member of the Hawai'i Golf Hall of Fame (2006 induction). He is about three weeks from hosting his David S. Ishii Foundation State High School Golf Championships.

He won 14 times on the Japan PGA tour, whipped up on the American PGA Tour at the 1990 Hawaiian Open, has multiple victories in almost every major Hawai'i event and was top 30 the last two years in the seniors' Turtle Bay Championship.

Ishii just reminded everyone of his magic golf touch a year ago at Mid-Pacific. He shot a final-round 68 while almost everyone else flailed in the foul weather and Mid-Pac's unique challenges. Ishii birdied the last two holes, closing with a climactic 45-footer that left him with his arms raised and a stunned look.

"I was trying to make pars and the last two holes birdies just came out," Ishii said later.

He hadn't played Mid-Pacific since 1990 and hadn't won it since a year before that. Ishii set the tournament record with his initial victory in 1986, shooting a 17-under-par 271 that was 14 better than anyone else. He was the only golfer to break par last year, when some of the rough was so high there were as many as four spotters on a hole to help golfers find their ball.

Hayashi, a four-time Aloha Section PGA Player of the Year, will try again this year after getting his fifth runner-up finish last year. Three-time champion Regan Lee is also in the field, along with U.S. Public Links champion Casey Watabu, who last teed it up in The Masters.