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A steady rain was not about to halt Ava Cepeda’s steady reign.
Cepeda, a New Mexico sophomore out of Kahuku, beat Punahou senior Samantha Monroe with a birdie on the 15th hole to capture the women’s division of the Manoa Cup on Friday, completing quite a summer slam. Fresh off capturing the state amateur stroke play title, Cepeda blitzed the field to win match play at Oahu Country Club.
Hawaii State Golf Association officials say that the only other player to win both in the same year was Tyler Ota in 2019.
“Today was fun, with the rain and everything. It was like a battle and it was good to be out there in these conditions,” Cepeda said. “Its a nice relief to finally get the win.”
A light rain greeted the combatants on the first tee and hung around throughout. Impervious to the weather and hilly terrain, the girl who learned the game at Kahuku Golf Course won the first two holes but lost the third when her putt lipped out. She made a slider from 9 feet on the fourth hole to stay 1-up and then buried the shot of the day on the fifth.
After a short — for her, she was ahead of Monroe all day — drive of about 220 yards into the wind, Cepeda unleashed a high shot from 50 yards that plunked onto the wet green, took one hop and disappeared into the hole. She couldn’t see the result because of the elevated surface but knew it was good, only showing an indication of her heroics with a brief smile as she took the ball out of the cup for an eagle 2.
“I figured once I didn’t see the ball on the green it was probably in,” Cepeda said. “I saw the pitch mark, too, so yea.”
Monroe, who had to make the lonely walk to the back of the green to retrieve her ball, was suddenly two holes down. She fought back to win the next hole with a birdie, but Cepeda ground her down after that and clinched the match by winning 12-13-14. Cepeda didn’t play the final three holes in match play all week, the only time she visited that part of the layout was in Monday qualifying when she shot a 67. She is the first medalist to win the tournament since Raya Nakao in 2022.
She lost in the final to Kara Kaneshiro last year, but Kaneshiro was not in the field to defend it.
“Ava will take a lot of satisfaction out of this,” her father and caddie, Baxter, said. “It was a little bit of pressure with some of the people missing, and she was one of the favorites. But you come in with that expectation and you kind of have the best chance to win, to get it done is a satisfaction.”
In her first appearance at the prestigious tournament, Monroe reached the final as the 15th seed after shooting 80 to make the cut by two strokes. She turned up her game in match play beginning Tuesday when she sent No. 2 seed Jasmine Wong packing and clutched up with birdies on 16 and 17 to send Mariko Yonemura to a playoff in the semifinal Thursday before eliminating her with another birdie on the 20th hole.
“It was a really good tournament — from barely making the cut to making it this far was really nice,” Monroe said. “I do wish I played a little better today, but I feel like I had really good rounds this week.”
Monroe — who is considering Colorado State, Boise State and Sacramento State — went into the final with her coach on her bag after her friend Lia Choy helped her through the playoff in the semifinal. Her mother was on the bag for her upset of Wong and still came in handy in the final against Cepeda when Monroe lost an earring during the action.
“By the second day I was like, ‘Mom, I’m going to have to turn it over to someone else’,” Monroe said.
Both females were surrounded by supporters in the final, with Cepeda’s sister Mia keeping score for the HSGA after losing in the first round to end hopes of another all-Cepeda clash, her younger brother frolicking on the links between shots and her boyfriend admiring from the fringes. What they witnessed might have been Ava Cepeda at her best with much more to come.
“Her game is just so solid,” Mia Cepeda said. “She just makes putts out of nowhere when you don’t really expect it, so it’s fun to watch her play. We both really like match play, it’s just exciting. Because we don’t do it very often, it is special for both of us.”
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Cepeda, a New Mexico sophomore out of Kahuku, beat Punahou senior Samantha Monroe with a birdie on the 15th hole to capture the women’s division of the Manoa Cup on Friday, completing quite a summer slam. Fresh off capturing the state amateur stroke play title, Cepeda blitzed the field to win match play at Oahu Country Club.
Hawaii State Golf Association officials say that the only other player to win both in the same year was Tyler Ota in 2019.
“Today was fun, with the rain and everything. It was like a battle and it was good to be out there in these conditions,” Cepeda said. “Its a nice relief to finally get the win.”
A light rain greeted the combatants on the first tee and hung around throughout. Impervious to the weather and hilly terrain, the girl who learned the game at Kahuku Golf Course won the first two holes but lost the third when her putt lipped out. She made a slider from 9 feet on the fourth hole to stay 1-up and then buried the shot of the day on the fifth.
After a short — for her, she was ahead of Monroe all day — drive of about 220 yards into the wind, Cepeda unleashed a high shot from 50 yards that plunked onto the wet green, took one hop and disappeared into the hole. She couldn’t see the result because of the elevated surface but knew it was good, only showing an indication of her heroics with a brief smile as she took the ball out of the cup for an eagle 2.
“I figured once I didn’t see the ball on the green it was probably in,” Cepeda said. “I saw the pitch mark, too, so yea.”
Monroe, who had to make the lonely walk to the back of the green to retrieve her ball, was suddenly two holes down. She fought back to win the next hole with a birdie, but Cepeda ground her down after that and clinched the match by winning 12-13-14. Cepeda didn’t play the final three holes in match play all week, the only time she visited that part of the layout was in Monday qualifying when she shot a 67. She is the first medalist to win the tournament since Raya Nakao in 2022.
She lost in the final to Kara Kaneshiro last year, but Kaneshiro was not in the field to defend it.
“Ava will take a lot of satisfaction out of this,” her father and caddie, Baxter, said. “It was a little bit of pressure with some of the people missing, and she was one of the favorites. But you come in with that expectation and you kind of have the best chance to win, to get it done is a satisfaction.”
In her first appearance at the prestigious tournament, Monroe reached the final as the 15th seed after shooting 80 to make the cut by two strokes. She turned up her game in match play beginning Tuesday when she sent No. 2 seed Jasmine Wong packing and clutched up with birdies on 16 and 17 to send Mariko Yonemura to a playoff in the semifinal Thursday before eliminating her with another birdie on the 20th hole.
“It was a really good tournament — from barely making the cut to making it this far was really nice,” Monroe said. “I do wish I played a little better today, but I feel like I had really good rounds this week.”
Monroe — who is considering Colorado State, Boise State and Sacramento State — went into the final with her coach on her bag after her friend Lia Choy helped her through the playoff in the semifinal. Her mother was on the bag for her upset of Wong and still came in handy in the final against Cepeda when Monroe lost an earring during the action.
“By the second day I was like, ‘Mom, I’m going to have to turn it over to someone else’,” Monroe said.
Both females were surrounded by supporters in the final, with Cepeda’s sister Mia keeping score for the HSGA after losing in the first round to end hopes of another all-Cepeda clash, her younger brother frolicking on the links between shots and her boyfriend admiring from the fringes. What they witnessed might have been Ava Cepeda at her best with much more to come.
“Her game is just so solid,” Mia Cepeda said. “She just makes putts out of nowhere when you don’t really expect it, so it’s fun to watch her play. We both really like match play, it’s just exciting. Because we don’t do it very often, it is special for both of us.”
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