Kihei Akina, the middle of seven siblings, grew up on Oahu\u2019s North Shore. His family lived in a small condo on the first hole at Turtle Bay Golf Club, where he\u2019d chase around his oldest brother, Keanu, and mimic everything he\u2019d do with a golf club. Keanu, who is 20 years older than Kihei\u2019s youngest sister, now 8-year-old Kanani, played his college golf at BYU, where Kihei currently is a sophomore and one of the best amateurs in the world. Kihei admits he needed \u201ca few more inches\u201d to stick with his first love, basketball; he\u2019s listed at a generous 5 feet, 10 inches.<\/p>\n
Akina\u2019s father, Alan, who hooped for BYU-Hawaii, instilled the concept of \u201cstacking papers\u201d in his kids, who are 4 for 4 in playing a Division-I sport and will soon add a fifth when Kiliana decides where she wants to play rugby, following sister Kiani, who did so for Harvard.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery workout, every day of practice, those represent individual papers, and you keep stacking them, day after day,\u201d Kihei explained earlier this year. \u201cOver a year or two, you might not have that high of a stack, but you keep stacking \u2026 and it might take seven, eight, 10 years, but that\u2019s how you get to where you want to in life.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 20-year-old Akina might soon be adding an entire pallet.<\/p>\n
He turned in a 7-under 64 Friday at the VidantaWorld Mexico Open to grab a share of the clubhouse lead at 11 under until Andrew Novak decided to speed away from the field late and rise to 14 under. The performance marked Akina\u2019s lowest round in five PGA Tour starts this year and his eighth sub-68 score in his last nine rounds, which have all come this month as Akina has made three starts; he placed ninth at the Bank of Utah Championship and T-17 at last week\u2019s Butterfield Bermuda Championship.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m feeling more comfortable with each round played,\u201d Akina said. \u201cThis is my first time going from an event to another event, so back to back; it\u2019s a little bit different for me in that aspect. Yeah, I 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Akina was 4 under on his round when he drove the green with mini-driver at the 296-yard, par-4 13th and tapped in for eagle. He then capped his day with an exclamation point, chipping in for birdie at the par-4 18th. Akina leads the field in strokes gained putting, which has offset the fact that he\u2019s lost over a stroke and a half per round with his \u201cshaky\u201d approach play.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce I get my ball-striking where I want it to be, then I feel like I\u2019ll be good to go and ready to compete for the weekend,\u201d added Akina, who was nearly the first amateur to lead after 36 holes on the PGA Tour since Patrick Cantlay in 2011.<\/p>\n
College kid T-1 at a PGA Tour event \ud83d\udd25\ud83d\ude24 @BYUMGolf<\/a><\/p>\n Kihei Akina (a) chips in on 18 for an exceptional 64, and he shares the current lead in Mexico <\/p>\n 2011 was the last time an amateur held the lead through 36 on Tour (Cantlay) pic.twitter.com\/xSUu0atP4G<\/a><\/p>\n