Before current Punahou sophomore Alexa Takai puts herself to the test against professional golfers at the 2025 LPGA Lotte Championship, she already has quite the grand comparison to live up to.
"To me, she's the closest at her age to Michelle Wie," says Brandan Kop of Takai. "The closest I've seen in Hawai‘i to her. There's a lot of great players, female players in Hawai‘i, but most of them are in college. Alexa, she's just a sophomore in high school, and that what makes it really phenomenal."
Twenty years ago, Wie, now Michelle Wie West, turned professional just shy of 16. After dominating the local golf scene and showing she could thrive among the pros, Wie became a worldwide phenomenon, signing multimillion endorsement deals with multiple global brands before she even graduated from Punahou.
Kop, 64, has seen his share of precocious golf talents in the Islands. The Hawai‘i Golf Hall of Famer, who has been a mentor to Takai, will also caddy for her at the Lotte, which runs from Oct. 1-4 at Hoakalei Country Club in ‘Ewa Beach.
Takai's natural ability was evident in a media session at Hoakalei shortly after it was announced she would be able to play in the 2025 Lotte after receiving a full sponsor's exemption to play in the tournament. She sank the vast majority of her putts on the putting green, despite half a dozen cameras following her every move. Minutes later, she was torching balls on the driving range despite not swinging at full speed, moving up a club every few swings.
To Kop, it's Takai's mental capacity that has separated her from her peers despite her young age.
"Her golf IQ is off the chart," Kop says of Takai. "In eighth grade, she was talking to me about the golf swing and golf shots. Things I'm trying to teach the college players, she already knew about it. In eighth grade, she's already cooking her own food, and the reason why she wanted to was to make sure she got the right amount of protein and calories so that she could perform her best."
Like Wie, Takai has made her early mark on the local golf scene. Recent wins include two straight victories at the Jennie K. Wilson Invitational. During her freshman year at Punahou, she was the runner-up at the 2025 HHSAA girls individual championship, losing to Kahuku's Ava Cepeda, a senior at the time, by three strokes.
Media attention isn't new to Takai, who fielded questions like a seasoned veteran during her session at Hoakalei.
"I think I'll just stick to my own game," Takai said about the prospect of facing professionals twice her age in a matter of days. "That's all you can do. You can't really get too caught up in what everyone else is doing. You kind of just have to take your game one by one and just live in the moment."
When asked about the opportunities the game of golf has provided her, Takai offered that "everyone's journey is different. There's players who maybe make it big really young, and there's players who do maybe a little bit later on, but everyone has their own path. And I think if you just stick to your own path and don't really compare yourself to other people, kind of just stay on your own trajectory, that's the best thing."
A bevy of colleges are lining up to recruit Takai, but she won't be the first in her family to play collegiately. If she doesn't turn pro immediately, Takai will be the last of her siblings to play college golf. Her sisters, Victoria and Madison, were both on Boston University's golf team. Meanwhile, her brother, Jordan, is a senior at Punahou who has committed to play collegiately at Dartmouth.
The youngest of four siblings, Alexa Takai says she's played golf ever since she could walk. While her accomplishments have earned her the opportunity to play in an LPGA event as a teenager, it's merely a step in the pursuit to find out how far she can go in the sport.
"I argue it's the hardest sport in the world," Takai said. "We see the best players in the world still struggling. It's kind of like a lifelong game that you'll never master, but I just love how you can shoot 63 one day and the next day, 75."
For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up here for our free Daily Edition newsletter.
Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
