LIHU‘E — Defending champion TJ Kua is heading into the Round of 16 after first winning his rematch with last year’s runner-up Layne Morita in an all-Kaua‘i contest, then advancing past Bradley Shigezawa during the first two days of match
LIHU‘E — Defending champion TJ Kua is heading into the Round of 16 after first winning his rematch with last year’s runner-up Layne Morita in an all-Kaua‘i contest, then advancing past Bradley Shigezawa during the first two days of match play at the 102nd Manoa Cup at O‘ahu Country Club.
His opponent this morning has already made some history at the event, as Alina Ching became just the second female to ever advance past the first round, the other being Michelle Wie. Ching, the 17th seed, will be a senior at Punahou this fall, which is also Wie’s alma mater.
Ching started her run with a 4 & 3 win over Dick Sieradzki (48th seed), winner of the 82nd Manoa Cup.
She followed that up with a 5 & 4 win over Gary S. Petersmeyer (49).
That victory makes her the first female to advance two rounds into match play, as Wie’s best result was one victory and then a 20-hole defeat in 2002.
Kua, a member of the University of Hawai‘i golf team, bested Morita (64) this time around by a 3 & 2 score after last year’s 1-up victory for the prestigious title. Having entered this year as the automatic No. 1 seed, Kua then continued his title defense with a 2-up win over Shigezawa (32).
Today’s matchup is a contest between the past two Manoa Cup championship families, as Alina’s older brother, Alex, was the winner of the 100th Manoa Cup in 2008.
Alex is currently in Scotland, having just played the British Amateur Championship at Muirfield Golf Club. He made it through the field of 288 golfers to the Round of 32, the second round of match play, before a 3 & 2 loss. He shot a 2-under par 69 on each of the first two days in stroke play, before his defeat on Wednesday.
The other matches in today’s third round will see Colton Knedler (40) take on Todd Rego (9), Sean Maekawa (4) face Brandan Kob (13), Hunter Larson (5) go against Ryan Lloyd (21), David Fink (2) face Max Bonk (15), David Saka (7) take on Jonathan Ota (23), Bou An Fujieki (35) go up against Reo Saito (19) and Michael Fan (27) take on Isaac Jaffurs (11).
