VALLARTA, Mexico (AP) — Kihei Akina chipped in for birdie on the last hole Friday for a 7-under 64 and his name atop the leaderboard in the Mexico Open, and there was every reason for the 20-year-old sophomore at Brigham Young to feel like this was old hat.
It was his ninth round of 67 or lower on the PGA Tour in his last four tournaments, dating to the sponsor exemption he received in the Wyndham Championship. He already has one top 10, in the Bank
of Utah Championship.
“I'm feeling more comfortable with each round played," said Akina, who was at 11-under 131 and tied with Matthieu Pavon and Adrien Dumont de Chassart with half the field still to play.
Akina certainly looked the part at Vidanta Vallarta, where he made three birdies on the par 5s and picked up his eagle on the reachable par-4 13th when he drove the green from 296 yards.
“We had about 287 to the front of the green and that’s what I was trying to hit,” Akina said. “So just a nice, roasted draw mini-driver for me, landed in a perfect spot and rolled down to tap-in. So that was a bonus for me.”
His life dream is to play on the PGA Tour and he's making remarkable progress. Dating to August and the Wyndham Championship, Akina has picked up seven points in the PGA Tour University program for underclassmen. He gets one point for every PGA Tour cut and one point for a top 10.
Akina now has 12 points, leaving him eight away from having access to a PGA Tour card. He also got two points for playing in the Walker Cup, where he went 1-1-1 at Lahinch in Ireland.
“I’ve just got to keep playing well and keeping my foot on the gas,” he said. “Feel like I’m doing that pretty well this week.”
Different about this week was his travel schedule. Akina was in Bermuda last week and tied for 17th in a tournament cut short to 54 holes because of high wind. Then it was over to Mexico, and it's like he didn't miss a beat.
“My first time going from an event to another event, so back-to-back. It’s a little bit different for me in that aspect,” he said. “Feel like every new tournament, every new round is a learning experience for me, and this one here was a really great experience for me so far.”
Akina grew up next to Turtle Bay, about five miles from the Banzai Pipeline on the North Shore of Oahu, and his family moved to Alpine, Utah — between Salt Lake City and Provo — when he was 10. He had scholarship offers to most top programs and chose to stay close to home.
It certainly hasn't hurt his development. Akina already is up to No. 9 in the world amateur golf ranking, helped not only by his PGA Tour performance but a runner-up and fourth-place finish in his last two college events.
Maybe it helped to be playing with someone his own age — Blades Brown, who turned pro as a junior in high school and earned his PGA card through the Korn Ferry Tour this year.
Brown shot 65 and was two shots behind Akina. Also in the group was 22-year-old Luke Clanton, a former No. 1 amateur and the second player to earn a tour card through the PGA Tour University accelerated program.
“That was an awesome, awesome grouping the last two days,” Akina said. “I think that helped keep me kind of loose out there.”
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