Charles Barenaba

Charles Barenaba, a 20-year-old student from the island of Oahu, became the third Hawaiian to hold a national Championship when he took the Amateur Public Links title at the No. 1 Course of Brookside Golf Club, Pasadena, Calif. It was quite appropriate that a Hawaiian should win because 187 Hawaiians entered the 1974 Championship, out of an entry of 3,948 and nine qualified for the Championship proper.

Barenaba scored a two-over par 290, defeating Frank Mazion, a 33-year-old airlines maintenance man from San Francisco, by two strokes. Jim Everham, a 47-year-old mail carrier from Seattle, Wash., was third at 293. Spencer Sappington, of Manchester, Mo., led after the first and second rounds on scores of 68 and 73, but he shot 78 in the third round and finished tied for fifth. His 68 was the lowest round of the Championship.

Randy Barenaba, 17-year-old brother of Charles, tied Sappington. San Francisco won the Warren G. Harding Trophy as the Team Champion. Mazion, Tom Smith, and Lamar Bass made up the San Francisco team, which shot 442. Honolulu was second at 444. Barenaba entered the final 18 holes one stroke ahead of Mazion and increased his lead to two when Mazion bogied the second hole.

By the end of nine holes, however, Mazion had made up three strokes and was in the lead. Mazion then lost two strokes to par on the 10th and Barenaba went ahead by one. Barenaba saved a bogie on the 12th by ricocheting a shot off a brick wall to where he had a clear shot at the green and eventually holed a six-foot putt. Barenaba then increased his lead to two strokes on the 13th and the remaining holes were halved.