After 108 years, women finally have a Manoa Cup to call their own.
The inaugural women’s flight teed off in the 108th Hawaii State Amateur Match Play Championship Wednesday at Oahu Country Club. Fittingly, the field of eight was greeted by rain and wind rushing down Nuuanu Valley in horizontal waves.
The four opening round matches featured a little of everything. That included little Millburn Ho, a 14-year-old OCC member who has been winning junior Player of the Year awards here since she was 7.
Ho rallied early, then shut down Eastern Washington sophomore Kimberlie Miyamoto late to win the day’s final match, 3 and 2.
Ho won all five par-3s, draining a 20-foot putt on the 11th and pointing to her win at No. 4, after losing two of the first three holes, as a turning point.
“It made me a little happier,” said Ho, whose family is in the process of moving to Arizona. “I wasn’t discouraged, but I got much happier when I won my first hole.”
She will play recent graduate Aiko Leong — also an OCC member — in this morning’s second semifinal at 8:20. Leong, who won four state team championships at Punahou and is now headed to Brigham Young, beat Jeannie Pak, 7 and 6, in the first round.
Pak won the Hawaii State Women’s Golf Association members-only match-play championship in April at OCC. The HSWGA voted to close its State and Match Play championships to non-members last year, inspiring the Hawaii State Golf Association to fill the major void with a women’s flight at Manoa Cup and its State Stroke Play Championship.
What that created in this historic first year was a relatively small and strikingly young field.
Pak, 46, is the only female entrant not in her teens, and she felt it against Leong, who won two Manoa Cup matches against the guys last year before “Scotty (Yamashita)
destroyed me.”
Leong bounced back nicely, going 5-up Wednesday with her first birdie, at No. 8.
“My short game saved me on a lot of those holes where I missed the green,” Leong shrugged, “and I missed the green a lot.”
The final hole was a microcosm of the match.
It was dormied going into the 12th. Leong blasted her drive 40 yards past Pak up the muddy mountain. Pak, who won the OCC Women’s Invitational three years ago, pulled her 3-wood second shot left and chipped to four feet. Leong pulled her 9-iron approach and chipped even closer.
Pak gave her the putt — and victory — but didn’t realize it. She sank her putt for her second par of the day, then found out a halve wasn’t enough to prolong the match.
“These players make me feel really old,” she grinned. “I know I cannot compete with these young girls, but I love these tournaments. Any tournament they let me play I’d love to play. I’d love to play again here next year if they’ll have me, even though I played junk this year.”
Mililani alum Mari Nishiura, who will play for Nevada in the fall, reached the semifinals first, taking out OCC member Keilyn Ing, 6 and 5. Ing is transferring to Santa Clara in the fall.
Nishiura’s only bogeys came on the last two holes. The two-time OIA champ was 1-under par playing from the white tees.
Iris Kawada, a Castle alum who just finished her freshman year at George Fox, will play Nishiura in the other semifinal. Kawada won five straight holes to build a 4-up advantage at the 13th over Kyung Eun Lee.
Lee, 13, was Monday’s low qualifier and the top seed. She showed why, rallying to win her third consecutive hole with a birdie at the 16th. That cut her deficit to one, but Kawada birdied the 17th to clinch a 2-and-1 victory.
Kawada and GFU teammate Sydney Maluenda, a Kapolei graduate, just finished All-American seasons, helping George Fox to a school-best third-place finish in NCAA Division III. Kawada was eighth individually at the national championship.
Pak is happy to see all those young faces at OCC this week.
“When I won the HSWGA tournament no juniors played, it was all older ladies,” she said. “This tournament feels like you’re playing a real tournament. You see all the younger generation and think, ‘Oh, this is a good tournament.’ I’m proud to be here.”
Friday’s 18-hole final starts at 7 a.m. Spectators are welcome.
