Thanks to his best friend’s generosity, Justin Taparra’s search for a new putter is on hold.
Taparra used a belly putter since his sophomore year of high school and transitioned to a conventional putter during his junior season at Chaminade when a ban on anchored putting strokes went into effect on New Year’s Day.
He cycled through putters and tinkered with his grip during the spring, but nothing felt quite right.
That is until Kai Kam-Cabato handed Taparra his Scotty Cameron Golo putter during a practice round leading into this week’s Manoa Cup.
After his third win in the state amateur match-play championship, “I don’t think he’s getting it back,” Taparra said.
With an improved feel on the greens, Taparra’s putting powered him to a 1-up win over defending Manoa Cup champion Tyler Ota on Thursday at Oahu Country Club.
Taparra punctuated the victory with an 18-foot birdie putt from the edge of the 18th green, raising his new favorite putter skyward well before the ball dropped into the cup.
“I’ve been switching putters every other week, switching grips, and this week I figured something out on the greens and it’s been working,” Taparra said.
“It’s been a hard year because I haven’t been putting well. I’ve been hitting it so good and I can’t keep up with other players on the greens. It just means a lot to finally get there.”
Taparra’s win assured that a first-time Manoa Cup champion will be tossed into the OCC pool after Saturday’s 36-hole final.
The final pairing will be determined today when the remaining eight are whittled to two. Taparra will face Dalen Yamauchi, last year’s runner-up, in today’s first quarterfinal match at 7:08 a.m.
The winner will stick around for a semifinal match at noon against Moanalua graduate Brent Grant or Mark Uekawa, Taparra’s teammate at Chaminade.
On the other side of the bracket, 2014 runner-up Isaac Jaffurs faces Shawn Lu, who captured the state high school title last month for Moanalua.
Baldwin’s Justin Ngan, a medalist in Monday’s qualifying round, and Punahou’s Evan Kawai meet in the last quarterfinal match of the morning.
Taparra missed the cut in Manoa Cup qualifying as a Kamehameha sophomore and hadn’t been back before entering this year’s event. Along with borrowing his putter, Taparra said Kam-Cabato’s support as his caddie helped him fend off Ota.
“He was there the whole time calming me down, telling me I can do it,” Taparra said. “Sometimes I doubt myself and he never doubted me once today and that’s the reason I putted so well.”
Ota’s putting was key to his title run last year, but he missed on putts inside 7 feet on Nos. 16 and 17 with a chance to tie the match.
“He was just putting well all day,” Ota said. “I didn’t putt well at all. I left so much out there, that’s the part I’m really bummed out about. I had my opportunities, I just didn’t take advantage of it.”
Yamauchi lost to Ota in last year’s final and is in the midst of another deep run after holding off former major leaguer Kila Ka’aihue 4 and 2.
Yamauchi said he’s “just trying to be consistent and try to make pars because it’s tough out there.”
“Part of it is fatigue, conditions are soft. The course is playing a lot different than what we’re used to seeing, the dry, fast type of course. So we have to adjust our game plan.”
Uekawa gave Chaminade two quarterfinalists when he edged Paul Loui in 19 holes. Uekawa was 2 up going into No. 17, lost the final two holes of regulation, then hooked his drive off the tee at No. 1. He was still 170 yards from the pin after punching out into the fairway, but landed his third shot 3 feet from the pin with a pitching wedge. He managed to save par and advanced when Loui bogeyed.
“Anything can happen. That’s why you have to love the Manoa Cup,” Uekawa said. “It’s the most interesting tournament in Hawaii.”
