Sports Watch

By Bill Kwon

Friday, June 25, 1999

GOLF WATCH

Manoa Cup endearing
test of endurance

BLAST from the past: Eight former Manoa Cup champions, including two-time defending champion Brandan Kop, got together with the media for a round of golf and lunch at the Oahu Country Club Monday to promote the oldest golf tournament in Hawaii.

Other former champions attending were Jack Omuro (1960), Art Fujita (1964), Clyde Rego (1978), Kalua Makalena (1981), Les Uyehara (1984), Guy Yamamoto (1985 and 1992) and Curtis Kono (1987), now OCC's greens' superintendent.

This year's 91st tournament is scheduled for July 6-11. The Manoa Cup began in 1907 and has been played every year except for the World War II years of 1942-'43. The sponsoring Oahu Country Club has hosted the prestigious amateur event at its Nuuanu course for all but six years, when it was held at the Waialae Country Club.

Francis I'i Brown, Hawaii's Mr. Golf, won the Manoa Cup nine times, while Ken Miyaoka captured the trophy six times. A four-time winner, Kop hopes to have his name engraved on the silver Manoa Cup Trophy yet another time.

Originally a medal competition, the Manoa Cup became a match-play format from 1926.

This year's event will be the first time that the tournament will be held without a break on Saturday. Previously, the semifinals were held Friday with the winners playing 36 holes on Sunday. Now, the it'll be more of a test of endurance with 36 holes on back-to-back days.

There will be another first in this year's Manoa Cup. Anna Umemura, one of Hawaii's leading amateur women's golfers, who just finished her sophomore year at the University of Tennessee, will try to qualify for the 64-player match-play field.

It would be an historic first for a very historic golf tournament.

A TASTE OF GOLF

Food lovers might be enjoying a Taste of Honolulu this weekend, but for golfers the main attraction will be the fifth Hawaii Golf Expo at the Blaisdell Center today through Sunday.

Besides an exhibition of the latest golf equipment and fashions, Aloha Section PGA professionals will be giving free mini-lessons The highlight will be a $500,000 putting challenge, with the winner out of a qualifying field of five getting a chance to earn $100,000. The $2 entry fee for the putting challenge will go to directly to Hawaii Junior Golf programs.

Admission is $5 for adults, free to youngsters 12 and under. It's worth a look.

HUNDRED HOLE MANIA

Twenty-four intrepid golfers are playing 100 holes today at the Wailea Blue Course to raise funds for Ka Lima O Maui, a Valley Island charity. It's the 18th Original 100 Holes of Golf event, which I played several times when this body was a lot younger. Among the maniacs in the field are organizer Larry Stubblefield, who holds the tournament record of 16-under-par 383, AT&T's Ken Sandefur, Don Carroll of Oceanic Cable and Big Island legislator Bob Herkes, who played the very first 100-Hole tournament at the Kauai Surf course. Not to be outdone, the Mauna Kea Resort will host a 100-Hole Golf Marathon on Monday at the Hapuna Course with the proceeds going to junior golf. For more information, telephone Joe Root, Mauna Kea Resort's director of golf, at (808) 882-7222.

FOR A GOOD CAUSE

The Hawaii Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame will host a benefit tournament July 23 at the Ala Wai Golf Course.

The chapter honors 12 football scholar-athletes annually. Entry fee is $50 per player for the 3-person scramble. Deadline is July 7. For information: call Earl Galdeira, 839-5575.