Sports Watch

By Bill Kwon

Thursday, July 9, 1998

Time, timing take
toll on Manoa Cup

OVER the years, the Manoa Cup reigned as the most prestigious local golf tournament. But some of its luster has faded in recent years, to the point where you have to wonder if the tournament can ever recapture its glorious past.

You can't take anything away from a tournament that has been held every year since 1907, with the exception of 1942-43, when play was canceled due to World War II. World wars have a way of disrupting things.

There's so much history in the Manoa Cup, symbolic for the Hawaiian Amateur Championship. Some of Hawaii's greatest golfers have had their names engraved on the perpetual trophy:

Francis I'i Brown, Hawaii's greatest amateur golfer, who won the Manoa Cup a record nine times.

Arthur Armstrong, 1934 national public links finalist in Pittsburgh and later a pro at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, site of the recent U.S. Open.

Jimmy Ukauka, three-time champion and another Hawaii golf hall of famer.

Ken Miyaoka, six-time winner who qualified for this year's event at the age of 70, only to lose in the first round.

Guy Yamamoto, who won twice before going on to win the national public links championship in 1994.

Also, Lance Suzuki, Greg Meyer and David Ishii. All went on to play professionally, with Ishii having a lucrative Japan PGA Tour career.

The Manoa Cup's strictly for amateurs, but many of Hawaii's top players have turned pro and aren't eligible.

But the biggest problem for the Manoa Cup is timing.

The week-long event conflicts with a number of national tournaments, making it impossible for many of the state's top amateurs to compete.

Besides defending Manoa Cup champion Brandan Kop, the hottest amateur in the area is Jim Seki Jr., who'll be a senior at Punahou this fall. He won the state title, the Navy-Marine Invitational and qualified for the U.S. Golf Association public links and junior amateur championships.

Seki won't play at OCC this week because he's at the Junior World golf championships at Torrey Pines in San Diego. And next week he'll represent Hawaii in the national public links, also at Torrey Pines. Talk about killing two birdies with one stone.

Other players who will miss the Manoa Cup due to the national public links: Yamamoto, Regan Lee, who finished second twice, and 1996 champion Damien Victorino of Kauai.

"People tell me, why don't I just play (the Manoa Cup) until Thursday," said Lee, who leaves tonight along with Yamamoto.

"But if I'm playing, I'm committed all the way to Sunday."

So he reluctantly had to pass on the Manoa Cup.

But there are enough top-caliber players in this year's field, and the winner will be another worthy champion in Hawaii's longest running golf event.

I would be remiss if I didn't note the death of Charley Chung. He died last Friday at the age of 95.

Chung holds a unique distinction in Manoa Cup history -- being the first of Asian extraction to win the tournament.

He ended Brown's four-year winning streak by capturing the title in 1924. He repeated in 1925.

Chung later was immortalized in Ripley's "Believe It Or Not" feature as the greatest Chinese golfer in the world when he was the head pro at the Redlands (Calif.) Golf Course.

If being the first Chinese-American pro was remarkable, Chung broke the racial barrier by being the first Oriental -- a term he preferred to Asian -- to play in the Los Angeles Open. That was in 1926, when the PGA didn't accept non-whites.