After caddying for Matthew Ma for 17 holes, Christina Waller thought something seemed odd when she pulled out the flagstick on Oahu Country Club’s 18th green on Monday.
"I reached up and noticed it wasn’t the same OCC flag I had been picking up the whole round," she said.
Prior to playing Monday’s qualifying round for the Manoa Cup, Ma coordinated with the group ahead to switch the flagsticks on No. 18 — the new flag stitched with a marriage proposal.
Ma tapped in a par putt to finish off a round of 73 to secure a spot in the field for the 106th tournament. After taking the ball out of the cup, he took a knee as friends gathered around the green.
"(OCC) is a special place for us," said Ma, the 2012 Manoa Cup champion. "I figured it would be cool to do it somewhere special."
Waller accompanied Ma around the undulating Nuuanu layout quite a few times over the years, including his run to the Manoa Cup title and his defense of the OCC Men’s Invitational crown later in the summer of 2012.
She was there again on Monday for what she thought would be just another qualifying round. Driving the cart up toward the 18th green she was curious why a crowd more customary for a late-round match awaited the group.
"I saw all these people and I’m like, ‘why is everybody waiting over there, it’s just a qualifying round,’ " she said. "I figured it out after."
They’d met in high school and were supposed to go to ‘Iolani’s junior prom together. But Ma qualified for a junior golf event in San Francisco and had to bow out. Ma, an ‘Iolani grad, and Waller, a Punahou product, stayed in touch and have been together for about three years leading up to Monday’s moment on the green.
"I wanted to do it in a way that she would not expect," Ma said.
Ma certainly accomplished that and will be back at OCC Tuesday morning for a first-round match with Monique Ishikawa, one of three women to qualify for the state amateur match-play championship.
The qualifier drew 94 entrants and with last year’s champion, Jared Sawada, now a professional preparing for the qualifying tour in Japan, the top seed was up for grabs on Monday.
Jared Lydon will enter Tuesday’s play atop the bracket after shooting a 5-under 66. Recent Moanalua graduate Brent Grant and Baldwin’s Tyler Munetake also finished 5 under with the tie broken by their order of finish.
"The one seed is the same as the 64 seed," said Grant, who made it to the third round last year. "It all starts off at zero."
Munetake made the turn at even par then eagled the par-4 10th hole and birdied four of the next five holes.
Cassy Isagawa, the girls state champion at Baldwin in 2012 and Oregon’s top player this season, qualified with a 1-over 72. Ishikawa, a Kalaheo graduate now playing for Columbia, finished at 75 and Alice Kim (University High, Gonzaga) made it in with a 77, two shots clear of the cut line.
Taylor John McGerity, the tournament’s youngest entrant at age 12, shot even par 71 and will be the 11th seed.
Along with Ma, two other past Manoa Cup champions qualified for match play. Four-time winner Brandan Kop is the 19th seed after a 72. Dick Sieradzki, the 1990 champion, carded a 77 and is the 53rd seed.
