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Danielle Ujimori was browsing through some used putters and, suddenly, finding a model to fit her stroke was no longer a priority.
It hardly mattered that the Scotty Cameron Futura beckoning from the rack came up near the junior golfer’s elbows. Once she spotted it during that visit to a local golf shop about seven years ago, Ujimori set about crafting a grip, stance and swing to fit her new club.
“I was about 4 inches shorter than I am now,” the 5-foot-3 Mid-Pacific graduate and Nevada sophomore recalled, “and (everybody) said, ‘You’re going to putt with that putter?’ I said, ‘Yeah, it’s tall as I am.’
“It weighs a ton and I love it. I’ve been using it ever since and it has really worked for me.”
To compensate for the weight, Ujimori learned to putt with a split grip with her right hand a few inches beneath her left on the handle. Her continued faith in her putter — and the technique it necessitated — has helped power her drive to today’s Manoa Cup women’s championship match.
>> More photos for Day 3 of 111th Manoa Cup at Oahu Country Club
Ujimori poured in a 30-foot birdie putt on Oahu Country Club’s par-3 11th hole and dropped another from close to 40 feet on the par-5 13th to pull away from ‘Iolani sophomore Katrina Huang and advance to the final with a 5-and-3 semifinal victory on Thursday.
In another ILH vs. Mountain West matchup, Punahou junior Karissa Kilby rallied past New Mexico sophomore and ‘Iolani graduate Kamie Hamada for a 2-up victory to reach the final a year after making it to the Manoa Cup semifinals.
Ujimori and Kilby both went 2 down after two holes in their semifinal matches before advancing to today’s 7 a.m. final to cap the 16-player women’s bracket in the state amateur match-play championship.
Ujimori didn’t take long to erase her early deficit against Huang and made the turn 2 up. She extended the lead by ramming in her uphill putt on No. 11 and maintained it by dropping an even longer putt on No. 13 after Huang stuck her approach about 3 feet from the pin.
“I was 2 up and I knew at this point I just wanted to finish,” Ujimori said. “I was much more confident over those putts than I was over some of the putts I had on the front nine.
“I got over (the ball) and told myself, ‘Finish it.’ That mentality of confidence and having a pep in my stride really helped.”
Kilby trailed Hamada for 11 of the first 15 holes but got back to all square with a par on the par-3 16th and took her second lead of the morning when a big drive on the downhill and downwind 17th helped set up a 5-foot birdie putt that pushed her ahead.
“Both of us have had better days, but I guess I was just trying to hold it together,” Kilby said. “It wasn’t great, but I had to keep my mistakes to a minimum.
“I was getting tired a few times today and I lost my momentum. But at the end it definitely came back, fighting to try to make it.”
The Open Division bracket in the 111th Manoa Cup reaches the quarterfinals this morning, with the semifinals in the Hawaii State Golf Association’s most prestigious event to follow in the afternoon.
Top-seeded Joshua Sedeno continued his march with a 4-and-2 win over Andy Okita in Thursday’s round of 16 matchup between the past two Manoa Cup champions. It appeared Sedeno might open an opportunity for Okita to cut into the lead on the 15th hole when he pulled his drive into the trees and sent his approach into a greenside bunker. But he saved par by draining a putt from about 8 feet and maintained the lead when Okita’s birdie attempt came up short.
Sedeno faces Punahou graduate Evan Kawai in today’s first quarterfinal match, with the winner facing Remington Hirano, Kawai’s University of San Diego teammate, or Zachary Sagayaga in the semifinals this afternoon.
On the other side of the bracket, second-seeded Tyler Ota faces University of Hawaii junior Justin Ngan, the Manoa Cup runner-up two of the last three years. Maryknoll’s Peter Jung takes on 2012 champion Matthew Ma in the final match of the morning.
111TH MANOA CUP
At Oahu Country Club
Thursday
Open
Round of 16
Joshua Sedeno def. Andy Okita, 4 and 2
Evan Kawai def. Kolbe Irei, 3 and 2
Remington Hirano def. Jeffrey Weinstein, 7 and 5
Zachary Sagayaga def. Nick Ushijima, 4 and 2
Tyler Ota def. Jeren Nishimoto, 5 and 4
Justin Ngan def. Justin Taparra, 2 and 1
Peter Jung def. Joshua Hayashida, 1 up
Matthew Ma def. Blaze Akana, 4 and 3
Women
Semifinals
Karissa Kilby def. Kamie Hamada, 2 up
Danielle Ujimori def. Katrina Huang, 5 and 3
TODAY’S MATCHES
Women
Championship
Karissa Kilby vs. Danielle Ujimori, 7 a.m.
Open
Quarterfinals
Joshua Sedeno vs. Evan Kawai, 7:09 a.m.
Remington Hirano vs. Zachary Sagayaga, 7:18 a.m.
Tyler Ota vs. Justin Ngan, 7:27 a.m.
Peter Jung vs. Matthew Ma, 7:36 a.m.
Semifinals
Sedeno/Kawai winner vs. Hirano/Sagayaga winner, noon
Ota/Ngan winner vs. Jung/Ma winner, 12:09 p.m.
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