Saturday, July 10, 1999
Kop in Manoa Cup semis
By Bill Kwon
Star-BulletinBrandan Kop, who's looking for his third straight Manoa Cup championship and fifth overall, has never lost once he reached the semifinals.
Well, he's in today's 36-hole semifinals at the Oahu Country Club, his home course, against long-hitting Tommy Kim.
Money in the bank?
Don't count on it or count out Kim, who's playing competitive tournament golf for the first time this year.
You never know in golf. Even Kop will be the first to tell you that.
He led Kendall Fukumoto, 5-up after eight holes in yesterday's quarterfinal match.
"At that point, I was wondering where we were going to eat lunch," Fukumoto said. He and his caddy, Angie Park, a University of Hawaii golfer, hadn't planned on eating that early.
Instead, Fukumoto rallied to cut Kop's lead to one by winning the 14th hole when the two-time defending champion suffered a rare three-putt.
When Fukumoto rolled in a 20-footer for birdie at the par-5 15th, it looked as though he was going complete an incredible comeback and tie the match.
But Kop covered Fukumoto's birdie with one of his own from 10 feet to maintain his lead.
"That was the turning point," Kop said. "He thought he won the hole and didn't."
Fukumoto, who has a year of eligibility left on the UH golf team, double-bogeyed the par-3 16th to go 2-down. A halve for par at 17 closed out the match.
Kim, meanwhile, sank a five-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to beat Sean Doi, 1-up.
A former Kaiser High baseball player and last year's state long-drive champion, Kim led 4 up after 12 holes, before Doi won the next three to cut the deficit to one. Doi pulled even at 17 when Kim bogeyed.
This is only the sixth tournament the 25-year-old Kim has entered - all this year.
In knocking off Damien Victorino, the 1996 Manoa Cup champion, Pal Kimura and now Doi, Kim poses an intriguing, and youthful, challenge to the veteran Kop.
"I know Brandan Kop's the best out there, and, of course, I've heard of his reputation," Kim said. But Kim feels being new on the golf scene might help him in a way so that he won't be too intimidated.
The other semifinal match also is a youth-vs.-experience meeting between Shane Hoshino, a junior on the UH-Hilo golf team, and Fred Hanamoto, a photo lab technician from the Bay Area.
Hoshino came from two back with four to play to beat Tony Okano, a former Punahou golfer who's now at Santa Clara, 2-up.
Hanamoto beat Gundy Jones, a San Diego State senior, by the same 2-up score.
The 40-year-old Hanamoto is playing in his first Manoa Cup at the urging of his four-ball golf partner Paul Loui, formerly of Honolulu.
The winners meet tomorrow morning in the 36-hole final, at 7.
