Out-of-character round in an event a week earlier motivates Peter Jung to win the Manoa Cup

One week after enduring a nightmarish round on the Big Island, Peter Jung was living the dream on his home course.

A recent Maryknoll graduate, Jung headed to the Kohala Coast for the U.S. Junior Amateur qualifier and struggled to an out-of-nowhere 84 over his 18 holes at Mauna Lani on June 19.

His summer schedule left little time to dwell on the rough round with qualifying for the 112th Manoa Cup coming up just two days later at Oahu Country Club. He got back on track with a 5-under-par 66 on Monday to claim medalist honors and the top seed in the 64-player bracket for the state amateur match-play championship.

After rolling through six matches over the next five days, Jung took the plunge into the OCC pool as the Manoa Cup champion on a far more celebratory afternoon compared to the previous Saturday.

“That actually motivated me a lot,” Jung said of the 84. “I think that was a big part of me playing well this week.”

A semifinalist in 2019, Jung pushed through two rounds on Friday to advance to the title match and outlasted Remington Hirano 3 and 2 in the 36-hole final on Saturday to capture the Hawaii State Golf Association’s most prestigious event.

Jung never trailed in the final, going 3 up early in the morning round before Hirano rallied to erase the deficit at the 13th hole. Hirano threatened to move ahead with a two-putt par on No. 17, with Jung some 15 feet from the pin. Jung rolled in his putt to cover the par and they remained all square after 18 holes.

Jung fired three birdies in the first five holes of the second round to again go 3 up. He was 2 up going into the par-3 16th, where his 8-iron settled 6 feet from the pin and he rolled in the birdie putt to finish off the win.

“I was putting it well, hitting it well. I knew I could do it,” said Jung, who signed with Washington State last November. “I just had to stay in my lane and just not let anything get in the way.”

Jung added the Manoa Cup title to a 2021 that included a victory in the HSGA Four-Ball Tournament with Tyler Ogawa and a second-place finish in the championship flight of the Mid-Pacific Open in April. He started June by reaching the finals of the 69th Francis Brown Four-Ball with partner Blaze Akana — then came the “wake-up call” at Mauna Lani that provided a push into Manoa Cup week.

“I was playing good, just that week I don’t know what happened,” Jung said. “I worked hard for that and I grinded that 84 out. I was trying hard and it was just one of those days nothing worked. I was proud I still kept my head up and I worked hard.”

As the top seed, Jung had the early tee time throughout the week and trailed for his first four holes in his opening-round match against Derek Ham. He stormed back to win 4-and-3 and finished his first four matches before reaching the 17th hole.

“He’ll put the pressure on the opponent to make birdies, he’s never going to give up a hole,” said Zachary Sagayaga, who caddied for Jung starting with the second round on Wednesday and joined in the jump into the pool. “To beat him you have to make birdie or better.

“He’s always been a great player, but to me, he was pretty unstoppable once he got the ball rolling.”

The march to the final was also a breakthrough for Hirano, a Punahou graduate coming off his junior year at the University of San Diego. He, too, reached the semifinals in 2019 and earned the third seed in qualifying, one shot behind Jung.

After going 3 down at the turn of the second round on Saturday, he dropped a 17-foot birdie putt on the par-3 11th to cut into Jung’s lead. But his tee shot heading up to No. 12 hit the cart path and kicked into the bushes to the right on his way to a bogey.

He got one back with a birdie on No. 15, but Jung closed out the match one hole later.

“It was a good long test of golf this week, really good to see where my game is at and just nice to play the Manoa Cup again,” Hirano said. “Peter played solid today, so hats off to him.

“I wanted to make sure I was giving it my best all day. … Just try to keep grinding and stay in it and see what happens.”

Jung, Hirano and Sagayaga will see each other again for another long day at the course later this week. They’re playing in the same group in the 36-hole U.S. Amateur Championship qualifier on Wednesday at Kapolei Golf Club.