Ma sticks it out, wins Mayor’s Cup

Just about a week after he’d considered dropping out of the Mayor’s Cup, Matthew Ma closed the tournament by signing the winning scorecard.

Ma missed the cut in his previous start and thought about withdrawing from the weekend tournament at Ala Wai Golf Course and not entering the Turtle Bay Amateur in October.

Instead, "I told myself I’ve never quit on myself yet," Ma said.

He chose wisely.

Ma fired a 4-under-par 66 in the first round on Saturday to take a three-shot lead. He then managed to grind to an even-par 70 in Sunday’s final round to hold off a pack of high school golfers.

Ma finished at 4 under, one stroke ahead of Moanalua’s Shawn Lu and Punahou’s Kyle Suppa, who both shot 68 on Sunday.

Defending champion Kyosuke Hara, a Moanalua junior, was another shot back at 2 under along with former University of Hawaii golfer and Manoa Cup winner Nainoa Calip.

"It feels good to win one for the old guys I guess," said the 30-year-old Ma.

The victory was Ma’s first since claiming the Oahu Country Club Invitational in a memorable 2012 run that included a Manoa Cup title. Success was harder to come by over the year-plus that followed.

"I can’t even find the grass last year and this year," Ma said.

He missed the cut at the OCC Invitational the week prior to the Mayor’s Cup, the first missed cut he could recall since early in his high school career.

"That was deflating," Ma said. "I actually told a couple of the guys mentally I wasn’t in the right frame of mind and I was going to withdraw (from the Mayor’s Cup) and not sign up for Turtle Bay Am."

After a couple of days off he went back to the practice range at Pearl Country Club, where he ran into Beau Yokomoto, an instructor he’d worked with since sophomore year at ‘Iolani.

"In high school my backswing was up to parallel. Now it’s two-thirds," Ma said. "(Yokomoto said) you have to finish the backswing and smooth out the transition at the top.

"Lengthening my backswing allows me to finish it and set before I transition to my downswing. And that was it."

Ma carded five birdies and one bogey on Saturday, then persevered through a rough start on Sunday to stay a step ahead of the field.

Ma pulled his first tee shot into the water and was 3 over for the round through five holes. He turned his day around with a solid drive on No. 10 to trigger a run of three consecutive birdies. A chip-in birdie on the par-3 15th moved him back to 4 under and he held on with pars over the final three holes.

Ma entered the week 16th in the Governor’s Cup standings and the win moved him into contention for a spot in the top 12. That distinction comes with a berth in the Governor John A. Burns Challenge Cup and a spot in the special Sony Open in Hawaii qualifier reserved for local amateurs.

"Still got a lot of work to do, but I feel better," Ma said, "mentally in a better place than I was seven days ago."