HAWAII GOLF
Eighth-grader advances
to third round of Manoa CupTadd Fujikawa gets through
the first 36 holes and is set to face
10th-seeded Hee Beom Kim
Four previous Manoa Cup winners and an incoming eighth grader were among the survivors of a grueling opening day of the state amateur match-play championship.
Thirteen-year-old Tadd Fujikawa went the full 36 holes at breezy Oahu Country Club yesterday to win his first- and second-round matches and advance to today's third round along with past champions Brandan Kop, Randy Shibuya, Guy Yamamoto and Damien Victorino.
After edging Chad Nonaka in the morning round, Fujikawa survived some shaky putting to beat Lance Hirai in the afternoon and set up a match with 10th-seeded Hee Beom Kim in a third-round match today.
"I'm really happy I got this far," said Fujikawa, who just finished the seventh grade at Moanalua Middle School. "My matches were tough and I'm really tired but I'll get some rest tonight and hopefully tomorrow my putting is a little better."
Just four of the tournament's top 11 seeds made it to the third round following a day of upsets. Shibuya, the 32nd seed, delivered one of the stunners by defeating top seed and defending champion Kellen-Floyd Asao 2-and-1 in the second round.
The tournament continued this morning with third-round action as the field is pared down to eight for tomorrow's quarterfinal matches. The 36-hole semifinal and championship matches are Friday and Saturday.
In matches indicative of the youth movement in local golf, Fujikawa outlasted two other teenagers in moving on to the tournament's final 16. He defeated Nonaka, a Kauai High junior, 1-up in the morning round then held off Hirai, who graduated from Iolani last Saturday.
Fujikawa took the lead on the first hole of his match with Hirai. But he missed out on opportunities to take command by missing several short putts while Hirai stayed close with nifty shotmaking around the green.
On the par-3 seventh hole, Fujikawa's tee shot rolled up the front of the green and stopped 5 feet short of the cup. Hirai then pushed his shot right, but his ball stayed in play thanks to a fortuitous bounce off a tree. He chipped over a bunker to within inches of the cup and Fujikawa's birdie putt lipped out to halve the hole.
"I kind of surprised myself with some of the shots I made," Hirai said.
Hirai tied the match at No. 8 when Fujikawa sent his approach shot into the bamboo surrounding the green. But his errant drive into the trees on No. 13 helped Fujikawa reclaim the lead.
After Hirai tied it again, Fujikawa took the lead for good on the No. 15 when he put a chip shot within inches of the hole and Hirai's shot out of a greenside bunker rolled just past the cup.
Hirai kept the pressure on in the final two holes, forcing Fujikawa to make a 5-footer on No. 18 to avoid going to a playoff. Fujikawa calmed his nerves and rolled in the putt to move on to today's action.
"I was actually really nervous," Fujikawa said of lining up the final putt. "For some reason all the other putts weren't going in and they were around that distance. I was kind of worried, but I stuck with my game and I pulled it through. I don't know how, I just did it."
Shibuya and Yamamoto also came up with clutch shots down the stretch to win their second-round matches.
Shibuya, the 2000 champion and the 32nd seed, stayed a step ahead of Asao much of the round and closed the match on the 17th hole, reaching the green on his drive and holing an eagle putt to win 2-and-1.
"He was putting well, that's the main thing. That's what you need to win this tournament," Asao said. "I don't think he missed a putt inside of 10 feet.
"He seems to be a different player in match-play because he knows what it takes having won it in (2000). He knows what he has to do to win."
Yamamoto, who won the tournament in 1985 and 1992, birdied No. 17 and 18 to beat Jeffrey Weinstein.
Yamamoto will have to get past one of the other teens left in the field to reach the quarterfinals as he was to face fourth-seeded Ryan Perez of Moanalua, the runner-up at last month's state high school boys championship, this morning.
"It doesn't seem like it was that long ago when I won my first one," Yamamoto said. "But (on Monday) Ryan Perez asked me, 'When was the first time you won?' I told him 1985. I knew it was like a year before he was born so I guess it was a long time."