Kid Koshi enjoying moment in ousting defending champ

The late golf writer Peter Dobereiner’s view is shared by many a frustrated golfer.

“Half of golf is fun; the other half is putting.”

Dobereiner never met a Noah Koshi. The 15-year-old rising Hawaii Baptist sophomore decidedly proved the pundit wrong on Thursday, having both a great putting game and great fun to advance to today’s quarterfinals in the 110th Manoa Cup.

Koshi drained two monster 18-footers on Nos. 9 and 14 to defeat defending champion and top-seeded Andy Okita 1 up. For the second morning in a row, the 17th-seeded Koshi will have first tee-time honors, facing No. 9 seed Joshua Sedeno of California at 7:08 this morning.

Sedeno eliminated No. 25 Kolbe Irei 3 and 2 on Thursday.

“I just wanted to have fun,” said Koshi, who stayed loose by often sprinting up fairways and bantering with officials, friends and family members. “And if you consider pressure fun, then it was that, too.

“I’m surprised (to advance) and I’m not. I trust my game.”

Also advancing to today’s quarters was last year’s runner-up, Evan Kawai, who defeated Caleb Keohokapu 2 and 1. No past champion remains: Matthew Ma (2012) was eliminated by Jun Ho Won 5 and 4, and Tyler Ota (2011) is out after falling in 19 holes to Justin Ngan.

Kawai faces Ngan at 7:32 a.m. At 7:16 a.m., Ho Won faces former University of Hawaii scout team quarterback Hunter Hughes, who defeated Nick Gerard 5 and 4. At 7:24, it’s Davis Lee against Alex Kam. Lee bested Stephen Osborne 1 up and Kam was a 3-and-2 winner over Blaze Akana.

The four winners advance to today’s semifinal round that begins at noon.

For part of Thursday’s first match, it appeared that Okita would keep his hopes alive to defend his title, something that hasn’t happened since 2010-11, when David Fink won consecutive green jackets. The 23-year-old was 2 up after a par on No. 7.

Koshi won the next two holes, squaring the match with a birdie 2 on the ninth, his uphill chip shot from 18 feet out finding the hole. More impressive was his downhill 25-footer on No. 14 to win the hole with a birdie 3.

Koshi survived an OB on his tee shot at No. 15 and it was all square after 17. The two were a bit wild off the 18th tee, both going left, with Okita so much so that he landed near the 15th green. Okita had an impressive save, launching his shot over a long tree line to the green, but it was not enough as Koshi curled in his 10-foot putt to win.

“My putting kind of left me down,” Okita said. “It was small mistakes here and there.

“This was a tough match and (Koshi) played really good, made a lot of long putts.”

As for his successful putts, “I was just trying to get close,” Koshi said. “If it drops, it drops. If not, it is what it is.”

Putting wasn’t good either for Keohokapu, who played catch-up the entire match with Kawai.

“I couldn’t convert enough,” said the Notre Dame de Namur senior. “Even when I did convert on a hole, I would lose it on the next. And then you had Evan playing lights-out.”

Kawai, a recent Punahou graduate, continued to carry his own bag instead of having a caddie and a cart. His bag of 14 clubs included a new putter he was still getting used to.

“I’ll probably rest up, stretch my legs, in case I have to carry it again,” the University of San Diego-bound Kawai said.