The 106th Manoa Cup narrowed its field down to just eight remaining competitors Thursday at Oahu Country Club. The annual tournament is perhaps the state’s most prestigious event for Hawaii golfers and often times a showcase for the best young
The 106th Manoa Cup narrowed its field down to just eight remaining competitors Thursday at Oahu Country Club. The annual tournament is perhaps the state’s most prestigious event for Hawaii golfers and often times a showcase for the best young swingers throughout the islands.
Back in 2009, Kauai certainly owned the week. Having just completed his freshman year at the University of Hawaii, TJ Kua of Lihue won the 101st Manoa Cup in a tight battle with another Garden Isle golfer. He bested Layne Morita on the final hole to win by a 1-up score and put his name alongside other Kauai golfers to have won the Cup, including Art Fujita and David Ishii.
This year won’t have similar success in terms of a Kauai champion, but the final eight have all worked their way through the starting field of 64 to reach today’s quarterfinals in the match-play event. Honolulu’s Cole Shintaku eliminated Zachary Braunthal on Thursday, 2 & 1. At just 15 years of age, Shintaku birdied the par-4 17th hole to finish the match. He will now take on Isaac Jaffurs, a former University of Hawaii-Hilo golfer from Haleiwa. Jaffurs was a 1-up winner over Jarin Harada on Thursday.
Doug Williams is representing the advanced generation of those still standing, having beaten Tyler Isono 2-up on Thursday. At 56 years old, Williams previously pulled off an upset in Wednesday’s action when he knocked out Kyle Suppa, who won the 2014 State Amateur Stroke Play Championship. Up next for Williams is David Saka, who was dominant in his Thursday victory over Nick Matsushima. Saka, a senior on the UH men’s golf team, birdied seven of the 12 holes he played on his way to a 7 & 6 win.
A birdie on the par-5 15th hole ended things for Honolulu’s Brent Grant as he notched a 5 & 3 win over Jaren McCartney. A member of the Moanalua golf team, Grant will take on Scotty Yamashita in the quarterfinals. Yamashita had to go extra time to defeat Shawn Lu. Down two with three to play, Yamashita won the 16th and 17th holes to square the match and the duo played even for four holes before Yamashita’s par on the 22nd hole gave him the 1-up victory.
Nainoa Calip was 2 up with five holes to play before PJ Samiere evened things with back-to-back birdies on the 14th and 15th holes. But Calip rebounded to birdie the 18th hole for a 1-up victory. Another former UH golf team member, Calip will now face either Tyler Ota or Kengo Aoshima. Ota and Aoshima were the final pairing on the course, still all square after 20 holes of play. The winner was still undetermined as of press time.
Kauai’s Pono Tokioka, a member of the UH golf team, lost his first-round match earlier in the week. Tokioka took on Grant, the Cup’s No. 2 seed. He struggled to match Grant’s sharp play early on and found himself in a deep hole, ultimately falling 8 & 7.
Lihue’s Keegan Loo also had his tournament cut short in an opening-round loss to Chris Shimomura, 6 & 5. Loo started to come on toward the end of the match, parring the final four holes and winning two of the them, but it wasn’t enough to extend the day past the 13th hole.
Updates and information can be found at 808golf.com.
• David Simon’s column is publishly Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays in TGI.
