Both Brent Grant and Justin Ngan enjoyed early-round success in previous Manoa Cup appearances.
This week, they’ve managed to sustain their momentum into the final day of the state amateur match-play championship.
Grant, a Moanalua graduate and BYU Hawaii sophomore, and Ngan, an incoming senior at Baldwin, survived two matches apiece Friday to set up a meeting in the 108th Manoa Cup’s 36-hole final today at Oahu Country Club, with the opening drive scheduled for 7 a.m.
Grant reached the quarterfinals the past two years and broke through to the final match with wins over Chaminade seniors Mark Uekawa and Justin Taparra on Friday, finishing his quarterfinal and semifinal matches on the 15th hole.
“It feels great, but at the same time it’s kind of been building,” Grant said. “I love this course up here. … I’ve always played well. It means a lot to have my friends and my family here supporting me. That’s what means the most to me.”
Ngan went the distance to fend off Evan Kawai 2 up in his first match of the day. After a 20-minute break, he edged high school state champion Shawn Lu 2 and 1, ending the match with a knee-knocker par putt on the 17th green.
“It was just a huge relief that I made it,” Ngan said after his 35th hole of the day. “I had so much pressure on that putt. Once I saw it go in I was ‘Thank God it’s in. I’m done with today.’ ”
Ngan and Grant hadn’t met until shaking hands outside the OCC clubhouse following their matches on Friday and will spend this morning and early afternoon touring the course two more times with the title at stake.
Ngan shared medalist honors in the qualifying round last year with a 67 and earned the top seed before losing in the second round. He fired a 69 on Monday to again share the top spot in qualifying and entered the 64-player bracket as the third seed. After pulling out five wins, the 17-year-old will attempt to become the Manoa Cup’s youngest winner since Travis Toyama won the 2002 title at 15.
“My driver’s been helping me a lot this week,” said Ngan, who placed eighth at the David S. Ishii/HHSAA Boys Golf Championship last month on Kauai. “I don’t know how I’ve been hitting it so straight, but it’s turned out all right.”
Likewise, Grant — at 20 the “old guy” of the final duo — also cited his performance in the tee box as a key to a deeper run through the bracket this week.
“In years past, I’ve kind of struggled off the tee, and here you really have to be accurate and confident,” Grant said. “This year I haven’t missed many fairways, I’ve been fortunate to draw pretty good lies, and if you can hit the ball far enough here it gets a bit easier as long as you can hit it straight.”
Through five matches, Grant has yet to play the 17th hole and has gone to the 16th just once.
He was 1 up through 12 holes against Uekawa, then ran off the next three to win the match 4 and 3.
He fell behind against Taparra with a three-putt bogey on the first hole, but took control by winning the third through sixth holes. He went 4 up on No. 14 when he stuck his approach 2 feet from the pin to set up the fourth of his five birdies in the round.
“I just hit a perfect shot, the kind of shot that only happens every few rounds, and it ended up right next to the cup,” Grant said following the 5-and-3 victory.
Ngan never trailed against Kawai — he took the lead for good with a par on No. 16 and protected the lead over the final two holes. He then parred his first six holes against Lu and took the lead with a birdie on the uphill par-3 seventh hole. He remained steady the rest of the way, building a 3-up lead with a par at No. 11 and holding on.
“It feels pretty good. I didn’t think this would happen, but wow, I’m here,” he said.
