Tadd Different

PGA Tour journeyman Michael Boyd was paired with Fujikawa at this summer's Reno-Tahoe Open and says, "I don't think length is going to be a determining factor for him. He hit it as far as I did, and I think I'm plenty long enough to play out here."

During his recent cameos in the big leagues, Fujikawa has struggled with the pace and severity of the greens, which have also exposed holes in his wedge play. Honolulu Country Club has graciously granted him access to its facilities, but the club doesn't exactly replicate Tour conditions: At the range Fujikawa hits restricted-flight balls off artificial-turf mats, and the practice green is flat, slow and grainy. "Yes, it is a big adjustment every time I go to a tournament," he says, "and I will admit that it has been a little frustrating to struggle like I have. But I'm learning so much every time I play, and that's the important thing."

With the help of everyone around him, Fujikawa has remained focused on the big picture. He talks about a five-year plan to make it to the Tour, which is not an unreasonable timeline. Sean O'Hair and Kevin Na both turned pro before they graduated from high school. Now in their early 20s, they have become successful pros.

PGA Tour bylaws prevent anyone under 18 from holding a Tour card, so in the coming year Fujikawa will cobble together a schedule that will likely feature detours in Europe, Asia and on the Nationwide tour while he continues to be a high school student. This semester he is on campus every morning for four classes: English, Japanese, marine science and piano. A special dispensation from the school allows him to take history and math as correspondence courses. "My whole life is school, golf and sleep," Tadd says. "Oh, and eating, too."

There is a sweetness and an innocence about Tadd that comes out in many ways, particularly in how he dotes on his elders, especially his grandmother Ellen Higuchi, with whom Tadd and his parents live. Ellen was 11 on the day Pearl Harbor was attacked, and she lost the lower half of her right arm when antiaircraft artillery tore through her home. (Her older brother was killed by shrapnel.)

A direct link to Pearl Harbor is only one indication of how deep Fujikawa's roots are in the community. It surely says something that months ago he received his sponsor's exemption to the Sony Open, while Wie still has not been invited even though she has a lucrative endorsement deal with the title sponsor. "The difference between Tadd and Michelle is that people here actually like him," says one Sony executive, who requested anonymity. "They want him to succeed because he's one of us."

A recent meal at a locals' restaurant ended with the owner picking up the check, telling Tadd it was because he has "the Aloha spirit." He'll need that kind of good vibe at the Sony, during what is sure to be a pressure-packed week for a teenager still finding his way as a pro. Then again, Fujikawa has such an endless supply of youthful exuberance that it's hard to imagine him not having a great time, regardless of his scores. When he looks ahead to the Sony, he is most excited not about all the autographs he will sign or the TV interviews or a chance to get his hands on a chunk of the $5 million purse. What he is really fantasizing about is what awaits at the driving range. Says Tadd, "When I hit balls now, some are yellow, some are blue, some have stripes, some don't. You go to the range at a Tour event, and the balls are beautiful. They have bag after bag of every brand, and they are all perfectly white. Oh, my gawd! It's like you've died and gone to heaven!"

Once again, he'll feel like the luckiest guy in the world.


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