Standing on the first tee of the Black Desert Championship last October in Ivins, Utah, Kihei Akina caught a glimpse of his future. With a large crowd gathered around him, BYU’s prized five-star golf recruit took out his driver and readied himself to make his PGA Tour debut.
“I was fine and felt normal,” Akina told the “Y’s Guys” podcast this week. “But I put the tee in the ground and as I stood over the ball, my legs went to jelly. I couldn’t feel my hands. I couldn’t feel anything. I thought, ‘Oh crap! Just make contact!’ Somehow, I hit it down the fairway.”
By the third hole, Akina was back to being his confident self and over the course of two days he went toe-to-toe with the professionals and made eight birdies and finished just outside the cut line at 4 under par.
“It was definitely different from junior golf and high school golf,” said the three-time state champion at Lone Peak High. “I just tried to learn as much as I could from those guys.”
Akina hails from an athletic family. His older sister, Kiani, played rugby at Harvard, and older brothers Keanu golfed at BYU and Kawika played basketball at NYU in Manhattan. Now it’s his time to shine.
When it came time to decide on a college, Akina received offers and NIL pitches from 50 programs, including BYU, which presented a competitive proposal — and an environment that has less to do with golf and more to do with the golfer.
“I wanted to surround myself with likeminded people. People in the church who have the same beliefs as me,” Akina said. “I think it will help build me and help build my testimony of the Savior and help me be a better person and get to where I want to be in life.”
Akina also wants to win. Bruce Brockbank’s current Cougars are competing this weekend at the NCAA championships in Carlsbad, California, where BYU is chasing its first national title since 1981.
“I also wanted to come in and build the program up and I want to compete for a national championship,” Akina said. “At BYU you represent so much. You represent the church and this great state of Utah. It’s really cool to be able to do that. Hopefully we can make a run next year.”
Akina is a big piece of an unprecedented wave of prized prep recruits bringing their talents to Provo, including No. 1 recruit AJ Dybantsa (basketball), No. 1-ranked Jane Hedengren (women’s cross-country), No. 1-ranked Daniel Simmons (men’s cross-country) and the No. 5-ranked tight end Brock Harris (football).
“BYU is on the rise for sure. It’s really cool to see. Everything is building up with every sport,” Akina said. “I’m excited to be a part of it. I’ve been itching to get to campus for the last year and a half.”
Dave McCann is a sportswriter and columnist for the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and show host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com and is the author of the children’s book “C is for Cougar,” available at deseretbook.com