Manoa Cup welcomed a women’s flight with open, wet and muddy arms in its 108th year. Why should it be any different from the first 107?
Mari Nishiura and Aiko Leong took it all in and gave back a final for the ages Friday. With Oahu Country Club at its wettest and windiest, Nishiura was imperturbable in a 2-and-1 victory over the extremely tenacious Leong.
Both finalists graduated from high school this month and played together on Hawaii’s last two Junior America’s Cup teams. Nishiura is taking her two OIA championships and 4.0 grade-point average from Mililani to Nevada on a golf scholarship. BYU’s golf team is bringing in Leong, with her 3.5 GPA, four state team titles from Punahou and a hard-earned Spirit of the Game Award from junior golf.
They were among the first eight women to make up the inaugural Manoa Cup Women’s Division this year. After walking over and through OCC’s slippery slopes and casual water for three days, the finalists provided enough drama for a few more years Friday.
Nishiura was 1 over par for the day, playing from the white tees in the windswept muck and missing just four greens in regulation. Still, she couldn’t shake Leong, an OCC member who cut her deficit to one with a stunning 60-foot birdie putt on the 15th and great up and down on the next hole.
“I guess I just had to tell myself to stop being afraid, to hit my shots,” Leong said. “I think that was my problem for the most part. I was second-guessing myself a lot.”
Nishiura was unfazed by all of it.
“Honestly, I was not that surprised because I know Aiko is a great player,” Nishiura said. “I told myself many times, ‘Aiko is going to keep charging at you, so don’t let up.’”
Nishura was a rock, giggling often and shaking off two lip-out bogeys to become the first women’s champion in this legendary event.
“A long time from now,” she said softly when the sun finally came out during the trophy presentation, “the younger generation will say she was the first one.”
She finally closed the deal with a monstrous drive on the 343-yard par-4 17th, nearly driving the green in spite of the mud.
She and Leong had been within yards of each of other nearly all day — they were 15 feet apart after their drives at the 15th, and 10 feet apart after second shots. On what would be the last hole, Leong found herself 40 yards back.
“I thought I hit it pretty decently,” Leong said. “I didn’t see her hit, but when I was walking down the fairway I was like, ‘Dang, is that her drive?’ It was so far.”
Nishiura attributed it to adrenaline, and more.
“I was thinking to myself,” she recalled, “if we can end it now, No. 1, I don’t have to walk up the hill again. And No. 2, I’ll be the first winner of the women’s division of Manoa Cup.”
Faced with a delicate chip to the green after Leong’s approach stopped in the fringe, Nishiura landed the ball softly and it crawled within 2 feet of the hole.
“I’m a very feel-for-it-type player, not too technical,” she said. “I felt it and imagined it and executed it the way I wanted.”
Leong chipped 3 feet short, waited out one last wild blast of wind, and sank her par putt. Nishiura drained her winning birdie moments later. Her only other birdie came on the sixth, when she launched her approach 135 yards and the ball spun and danced around the hole, finally stopping 3 feet below.
That came near the end of a driving rainstorm that followed them off the first tee. On the previous hole, Nishiura had to take off her visor on the green because the water was dripping off it onto her putter.
The finalists basically ignored the next three squalls that swept through and “pretty brutal” conditions. Through it all, Nishiura hit nearly every approach shot pin high and missed almost nothing. In her first three Manoa Cup matches she was 5 over par combined — 4 over on the 12th hole.
“Mari played with a lot of confidence,” said Leong, who hit seven greens in regulation and had just 27 putts. “It showed in her game. She was really consistent.”
Nishiura won a $250 gift certificate and Leong one for $150. More importantly, they got their names on the first two silver Manoa Cup trophies for women and learned a lot.
“I learned that confidence and calm make a big difference,” Nishiura said. “Sometimes in golf I get really stressed out or really, really focused, so I’m not having much fun. When I have more fun and joke and laugh I play better.”
What do you think of Manoa Cup now?
Nishiura grinned and answered immediately.
“It’s great.”
