Making golf magic was nothing like Alex Ching imagined it.

It was better.

With a dozen birdies, the 100th Manoa Cup champion fired the mythical 59 at Oahu Country Club Saturday.

“I was in shock,” Ching said. “The course record is one thing, but shooting 59 in golf is like the mysterious unicorn. There is a very short list of people who have shot that and it’s a dream for everyone. It was also so special to share it with my father (Steve).”

When it was all over, after his phone had “blown up” and reality hit, what might have surprised Ching most was how much more he appreciated his rare feat for the simple reason that it came here, at home, with family.

It didn’t happen in the midst of a memorable career at Punahou, where he won two state high school doubles championships in tennis and one in golf his senior year — when he also earned the precious amateur exemption at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

The elusive sub-60 round — it has only happened 11 times in the history of the PGA Tour — also did not occur during a college career that included three titles and a No. 3 World Amateur Golf Ranking.

He turned pro in 2012 and had a handful of top 25s on the PGA Tour’s Latinoamerica and China circuits. Even there, he never broke 63.

That happened five months before his 30th birthday, on the course he grew up playing. It came after he left pro golf for a “full-service financial planning” career and a year after he moved home to work at WestPac Wealth Partners with Spencer Dung, a friend since fifth grade.

“It was a pretty cool experience,” Ching understated. “I always thought I would want my lowest round to be in a tournament, selfishly, but playing with my dad and his friends was the best thing about it. It was golf in its purest form, in my mind. I say that because there was nothing on the line, no money, no trophy, no gallery, just my personal best score.”

OCC head pro Andrew Feldmann also called it “pretty cool.” It was one shot better than Hawaii Golf Hall of Famer Larry Stubblefield’s previous course record of 60 and two ahead of Feldmann’s personal best. OCC opened in 1906.

Ching’s 12-under-par score came from OCC’s white tees (5,740 yards). Stubblefield played from the blues, about 300 yards longer.

Ching began on the back nine and birdied four of the first six holes. When he drove the par-4 17th he started thinking of the possibilities. He drained a 20-foot putt on the 18th to make the turn in 30, then birdied Nos. 1 and 2.

A missed a 6-footer at No. 3 and lip out at 4 were the lowlights. He birdied the next two to get to 10 under, then curled in a 6-footer at No. 8. He had a 20-footer for birdie — and golf’s bucket list — on the final green.

“As I watched it, it curled beautifully into the hole and I was in awe,” Ching recalled. “One of the coolest things about it is that my dad and his friends were there to witness it.”

Did it make him yearn for another shot on tour? Not exactly.

“To be honest, I don’t think so,” he admitted. “Of course I miss playing tournaments and traveling, but I am very happy with what I am doing. The ironic part is that Friday was the final day of Q school for Korn Ferry for second stage. I watched a few friends make it to final stage and a few miss. Some Hawaii boys made it and I couldn’t be happier for them. They have been grinding hard and deserve it.

“I would be lying if I didn’t say I was jealous and that I’d want to be playing in final stage. But, I recently got engaged, work has been going well, I am playing some of the best golf in my life, I’m surfing, fishing, hanging out with friends, spending time with my family, and that’s what makes me happy now. Golf became a job for me while I was playing and it’s finally starting to feel fun again, which is what I missed the most.”

Annika Sorenstam is the only player to shoot 59 on the LPGA Tour. Al Geiberger was the first to do it on the PGA Tour, in 1977, and is still the only one to win a tour event without a score in the 60s (other rounds were 72, 72 and 70).

Jim Furyk is the only golfer to fire a 58. He also has one of the 10 59s on tour and, like Ching, a passion for paradise. Furyk won the 1995 Lincoln Mercury Kapalua International, the 1996 Hawaiian Open and — after buying a house at Kapalua — the 2001 Mercedes Championships next door, along with the 2003 Grand Slam of Golf on Kauai.

Justin Thomas shot 59 in the first round of the 2017 Sony Open.