CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Defending champ Travis Toyama will be the top seed at today's Manoa Cup at the Oahu Country Club.
Cup already
memorable
It was only the qualifying round of the 95th annual Manoa Cup, but already the Oahu Country Club members have something to talk about.
Not only did University of Hawaii golfer Kellen-Floyd Asao score a rare double eagle yesterday on the second hole, 11-year-old Bradley Shigezawa became the youngest player to qualify for the match-play event that ends Saturday with a 6-over 78. Shigezawa edged Michelle Wie by three months to be the youngest qualifier for the state's oldest continuous golf tournament.
Asao used a driver and pitching wedge to score a 2 on the par-5 second hole. He also had four birdies and one bogey en route to the best round of the day with a 6-under 65. Asao will be the second seed entering this morning's first round.
Defending champion and top seed Travis Toyama was the only competitor who didn't have to qualify during yesterday's heated competition. There were as many as seven golfers in a playoff trying to earn one of the final six spots of the 64-man competition. The odd man out of this group that shot 7-over 79 was Garrett Okamura.
Toyama faces Curtis Kono in the first match of today's opening round. The winners of the opening 18 holes play again in the early afternoon to narrow the field to 16 golfers for tomorrow's third round.
The quarterfinals are set for Thursday. The four golfers who advance to Friday's semifinals will play 36 holes. The top two finishers will play another 36 holes on Saturday to determine the winner in this grueling event.
Wilson in U.S. Open: At Columbus, Ohio, Dean Wilson shot a 136 over two rounds to qualify for the U.S. Open yesterday. Wilson was 13th in his group of 101 trying for a spot.
At Ko Olina, Bradley Bowen of Maui finished three strokes behind James Schaffer of Los Angeles in U.S. Open qualifying.
