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The quest for the 111th Manoa Cup title begins this morning with a rematch of one of last year’s semifinal duels.
Joshua Sedeno returns to Oahu Country Club as the defending champion and top seed in the state amateur match-play championship and will face Hunter Hughes in today’s 6:30 a.m. tee time.
Sedeno, a rising senior with Alabama’s men’s golf team, was automatically awarded the top line in the 64-player bracket by virtue of his victory last summer. His march to the 110th Manoa Cup title included a 5-and-4 semifinal win over Hughes, a former University of Hawaii quarterback.
Hughes survived a six-player playoff for the final spot in the bracket in Monday’s qualifying round at OCC.
Tyler Ota earned medalist honors in qualifying with a round of 7-under-par 64. Ota, the 2015 Manoa Cup champion and four-time reigning Hawaii State Golf Association player of the year, opens against Colby Gunderson at 9:03 a.m. Maryknoll junior Peter Jung finished a shot behind Ota on Monday to secure the third seed.
Along with Sedeno and Ota, past Manoa Cup champions to qualify included four-time winner Brandan Kop (1983, ’86, ’97 and ’98), Matthew Ma (2012) and Andy Okita (2017). University of Hawaii junior Justin Ngan, the runner-up in 2016 and again last year, also qualified as the 10th seed.
Heather McGinnis turned in a round of 1-under 70 on Monday to earn the top seed in the 16-player women’s bracket. Brittany Fan won last year’s title before turning pro, leaving this year’s No. 1 seed vacant going into qualifying.
McGinnis faces Jolie Chee at 11:36 a.m. in today’s women’s opener. The women’s championship match is set for 7 a.m. on Friday, with the 36-hole men’s final on Saturday.
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