'AIEA — A 10-foot birdie putt among many birdies, a lone eagle and two seemingly benign pars brought the generation-gap golf team of Leland Lindsay and Travis Toyama the Aloha Section PGA Bridgestone Pro-Scratch Championship yesterday at Pearl Country Club. Lindsay and Toyama were a shot better than brothers Norman-Ganin and Kellen-Floyd Asao.

Lindsay, 52, is a teaching professional at Luana Hills, where Toyama, 22, has worked in guest services for three years. Their primary claims to Hawai'i golf fame could not be more diverse: Lindsay won the Hawai'i State Open senior championship soon after turning 50; Toyama became the youngest Manoa Cup winner in history in 2002, at age 15.

Toyama followed that up with another Cup — symbolic of the state amateur match-play championship — in 2005 and captured the State Stroke Play title this year as he closed his collegiate career at the University of Hawai'i. Now, he is eyeing a professional debut at the 2009 Hawai'i Pearl Open, after the Governor's Cup and Sony Open amateur qualifying next month.

The eighth annual Pro-Scratch had 14 of its 40 teams within two shots of the lead going into the final round. Joe Phengsavath and Mark Chun, Joey Castillo and Joey Sakaue, and Matthew Pakkala and Mark Scheibach opened with rounds of 10-under-par 62 in Monday's two-man scramble format.

Lindsay and Toyama shot 63, mostly on the strength of Lindsay's consistency. They closed with 62 in the final-round best-ball format, with Lindsay sinking a 10-footer for birdie on the final hole for the ultimate difference.

"He made the one that counts," Toyama said.

The amateur "scratch" handicap golfer of the pro-scratch team converted six birdies and an eagle the final day, chipping in once and draining a 25-footer for eagle on the par-5 17th.

"Travis was really focused today," Lindsay said. "I'd say he was in the zone a good couple hours. ... His zone is so big it bumps you right off the golf course. If you're his partner you can't get in it. There's no room."

The eagle was the only long putt the team made all day. Every birdie putt came from 10 feet on in. Even Toyama's chip-in on the 15th was only 20 feet.

When it went in, Lindsay turned to playing partner Mike Iyoki and said, "I wish I was that young again."

"That young," said Iyoki, also a senior, "and that talented."

The Asao brothers — O'ahu junior golf and UH graduates like Toyama — were also shooting 62 with birdie on the last hole, but lamenting birdies that got away both days on the extremely reachable par-5 fifth hole. Those pars cost pro Norman-Ganin about $800 — the difference between the $2,000 first prize and second. Amateurs shared $4,000 in merchandise certificates. Pakkala and Scheibach (65—127) took third.

Champions Tour pro Dave Eichelberger shared seventh with amateur partner Brett Komoto at 66—130 — a shot ahead of two-time champions Kevin Hayashi and Elton Tanaka. Father-son team Lance and Nathan Suzuki (70—134) tied for 13th and tournament sponsor Del-Marc Fujita was 18th with pro partner Casey Nakama.

Defending champions — and cousins — Regan Lee and Brandan Kop were 22nd, finishing 22 shots higher than last year and 12 behind the champions, who had nothing but good things to say about each other.

Lindsay believes Toyama "has everything he needs to play professional golf."

"He's one to watch out for," Lindsay said. "He can see the shots. He can feel the shots and if he doesn't feel it he backs off until he does. He's probably the most mature amateur I've ever played with."

They golf often at Luana Hills. Toyama has come to appreciate the patience and consistency Lindsay plays with, and the need to find a permanent place for those elements in his game.

"I was hitting balls all over the place yesterday in the scramble, while he was always down the middle," Toyama said, "You need to be consistent. And, his putting ... we were always able to hang in there."

So was Fujita. He salvaged this popular tournament he originated to give serious golfers a rare opportunity to play with each other by eliminating extras and raising the entry fee.

The cutback was not related to the current economic strife. Ironically, it is Bridgestone's huge success with its new Tour B330-RX ball — a unique tour-level ball designed for the best amateurs, who do not have a tour-level swing speed — that has hurt his bottom line. Fujita is finding it difficult to get the popular ball to Hawai'i, which has cut his revenue despite the company's boom.