LANIKAI — As Tadd Fujikawa continued to walk the fine line between precocious and patient with remarkable dexterity at yesterday's 50th annual Mid-Pacific Open, his dominance created a few fascinating possibilities for today's final round.

While many were blown away by the wind yesterday at Mid-Pacific Country Club, Fujikawa did his 17-year-old best to blow away the competition. With his putting still in perfect rhythm, he carved out a 4-under-par 68 to create a seven-shot cushion before a gallery of some 40.

His closest pursuers are formidable and former champions. Hawai'i Golf Hall of Famer David Ishii (73—209) is looking for his fourth win here. John Lynch, the 2005 champion, is nine back after a 71. Defending champion Darren Summers (74) trails by 11.

If Fujikawa wins today, the Moanalua High School junior will be the youngest Mid-Pac champion in history. If he shoots another 68, or better, he will break Ishii's 22-year-old tournament record of 17-under 271.

If anyone can catch Fujikawa it would be a spectacular rally, but hardly historical by golf's goofy standards. Ishii captured his last title here two years ago, at age 50, by erasing a six-shot deficit the final day. His exclamation point came in the form of birdies on the final two holes as he won by three.

On that windy, difficult day, Ishii could not remember if his last victory had come in Hawai'i, where he has won everything worth winning including the 1990 Hawaiian Open, or if it was one of his 14 wins in Japan.

But yesterday, Ishii recalled his 2006 victory in Lanikai in high definition.

"I just played better than everybody else," Ishii said flatly. "I shot 68 in the wind and everybody else shot over 75."

If it has happened before, can it happen again?

"Not this year," Ishii acknowledged. "The course is not as hard. It's not as fast."

Fujikawa will earn his first professional paycheck today, it is just a matter of how much. Ishii joked only "an earthquake" could deny Fujikawa the $13,500 first prize.

The marvelous Menehune turned pro last July, six months after finishing 20th at the Sony Open in Hawai'i and five months after winning the Hawai'i Pearl Open. He has teed it up 11 times since against pros, including five PGA Tour events. This is the first time he has made a cut.

For three days he has worn out Mid-Pacific Country Club's idyllic greens to carve out his huge advantage. He overtook Ishii Friday with a 66 that needed just 24 putts. Yesterday, Fujikawa only needed 26 — 12 on the back side, which he played in 3-under.

"He's just putting better than anyone else," Ishii said. "It's all about putting. He one-putted the first four, started birdie-birdie. He had 10 one-putts today."

So while Fujikawa fretted about his drives — he hit just 11 greens in regulation — everyone else was coveting his putter. Especially his buddy Stephanie Kono, who became one of the first two females (with Punahou School mate Anna Jang) to play the Mid-Pacific Open this year. Kono easily made the cut, but is tied for 33rd in the Professional Flight (her exemption required the amateur to play with the pros) because she's needed 108 putts. There were 35 in her round of 76 yesterday.

Fujikawa has the magic touch this week, but no magic words of putting wisdom.

"Practice ... nothing special," he said. "Hours and hours of putting. Really working on my stroke. It's really good right now. Working on tempo. I have a rhythm in my head and hopefully it can stay there for tomorrow. If your tempo gets thrown off, you're in trouble."

Putting is not Fujikawa's only concern on a course sure to be treacherous today.

"Focus is another important thing here but the most important is putting the ball in the right place," he said. "You can hit it 10 feet above the hole but if it's better to be chipping from below ... things like that, I've really been trying to work on planning out my shots and hitting it in the right places.

"It's kind of small stuff like that that makes three or four shots difference."

Fujikawa had five birdies with a lone bogey yesterday. The most telling part of the round came after that bogey at No. 2 (his 11th hole), which helped him re-focus. He matched birdies by Ishii and Summers on the par-5 third hole, then trumped their bogeys at the fourth by ramming home a 35-foot birdie putt.

That gave him a six-shot advantage with six to play. He spent the final 90 minutes preparing for today.

"Towards the end I wasn't even watching them putt," Fujikawa said. "I didn't care what they did. I just needed to focus on what I needed to do, what shot I needed to hit, how far I needed to hit it. I think things like that will help me tomorrow, to keep focused on what I need to do."

NOTES

The final group of Tadd Fujikawa, David Ishii and John Lynch tees off at 9:06 a.m. today and is expected to finish by 2:30 p.m.

University of Hawai'i senior, and two-time Manoa Cup champion, Travis Toyama is tied with Punahou sophomore Bradley Shigezawa for low amateur honors. Both shot 75 yesterday and are at 221, a shot ahead of Kamehameha's Alika Bell (76—222). None of the amateurs shot par or better.

50TH MID-PACIFIC OPEN

At Mid-Pacific Country Club.

PRO-CHAMPIONSHIP

Tadd Fujikawa 68-66-68—202.

David Ishii 67-69-73—209.

John Lynch 72-68-71—211.

Darren Summers 71-68-74—213.

Jarett Hamamoto 72-73-73—218.

Hiroyuki Naito 73-74-71—218.

Abe Mariano 73-76-70—219.

Andrew Kam 71-76-72—219.

Leland Lindsay 71-73-75—219.

Chad Saladin 71-74-74—219.

Kenichiro Kato 72-78-70—220.

Regan Lee 78-71-71—220.

a-Travis Toyama 72-74-75—221.

a-Bradley Shigezawa 69-77-75—221.

Garrett Okamura 71-77-74—222.

Stan Souza 72-78-72—222.

a-Alika Bell 70-76-76—222.

Kevin Hayashi 79-74-70—223.

Casey Nakama 73-76-74—223.

Beau Yokomoto 70-76-77—223.

Brian Sasada 75-73-75—223.

Bradley Bowen 74-78-72—224.

Ryan Acosta 75-75-74—224.

Nick Mason 73-74-77—224.

Kalani Kiaaina 74-76-74—224.

Jerry Mullen 77-70-77—224.

Ed Tischler 71-73-80—224.

a-Lorens Chan 73-77-74—224.

a-Brandan Kop 74-73-77—224.

a-Keola Gerell 71-72-81—224.

Aaron Chun 74-76-75—225.

Ron Kiaaina 76-75-74—225.

Joe Phengsavath 71-76-78—225.

a-TJ Kua 72-73-80—225.

Manarii Gauthier 76-72-78—226.

Damien Jamila 74-74-78—226.

John Hearn 77-74-75—226.

Phillip Chun 74-77-75—226.

Tommy Kim 70-76-80—226.

a-Doug Banks 74-74-78—226.

a-Mike Kawate 77-75-74—226.

a-Stephanie Kono 76-75-76—227.

Stephen Burke 77-73-77—227.

a-Shigeru Matsui 78-76-73—227.

Dean Prince 75-78-75—228.

Kevin Shimomura 69-77-82—228.

a-Wade Nakamura 73-81-74—228.

Lance Taketa 76-77-76—229.

Jeffrey Ferry 72-77-80—229.

Daekae Suh 73-77-79—229.

Andrew Feldman 77-76-76—229.

Satoru Tobita 73-75-81—229.

TODAY'S TEE TIMES

FIRST TEE

7 a.m.—Benjamin Oakes, Motohiro Kimura, Lanny Banks, Paul Kimura. 7:09—Neal Takara, Daekae Suh, Andrew Feldman, Satoru Tobita. 7:18—Lance Taketa, Jeffrey Ferry, Dean Prince, Kevin Shimomura. 7:27—Wade Nakamura, Shigeru Matsui, Stephanie Kono, Stephen Burke. 7:36—Phillip Chun, Tommy Kim, Doug Banks, Mike Kawate. 7:45—Manarii Gauthier, Damien Jamila, John Hearn, Joe Phengsavath. 7:45—Aaron Chun, Ron Kiaaina, TJ Kua, Keola Gerell.

8:03—Kalani Kiaaina, Brandan Kop, Jerry Mullen, Ed Tischler. 8:12—Bradley Bowen, Ryan Acosta, Nick Mason, Lorens Chan. 8:21—Kevin Hayashi, Casey Nakama, Beau Yokomoto, Brian Sasada. 8:30—Garrett Okamura, Stan Souza, Alika Bell, Bradley Shigezawa. 8:39—Travis Toyama, Kenichiro Kato, Regan Lee, Chad Saladin. 8:48—Abe Mariano, Andrew Kaim, Leland Lindsay. 8:57—Jarett Hamamoto, Hiroyuki Naito, Darren Summers.

9:06—John Lynch, David Ishii, Tadd Fujikawa.

A FLIGHT

Wendell Kop 78-78-79—235.

Clayton Nishimoto 79-77-82—238.

Ron Serikaku 79-81-80—240.

Tim McClaren 79-85-79—243.

Shakil Ahmed 78-89-77—244.

Ronald Ching 77-83-84—244.

Jay Chrisman 74-83-87—244.

Paul Glen 77-84-84—245.

Mike Nakata 82-81-83—246.

Stanford Inouye 80-86-80—246.

James Mansell 85-77-85—247.

B FLIGHT

Steve Blancarte Jr. 83-78-84—245.

Tom Kennedy 83-84-81—248.

Barry Lai 86-83-79—248.

Wedemeyer Au 82-86-83—251.

Paul Ichimura 85-84-83—252.