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The Turk visited past champions of the Manoa Cup on Wednesday and came for the medalists on Thursday.
A day after Brandan Kop and Josh Hayashida fell in the second round, Sam Rodriguez beat Drew Tom and Jordan Sato topped Spencer Shishido in the third round, both 4&3. Tom and Shishido shot 68s in qualifying, while Sato carded a 73 and Rodriguez came home with a 72. Those scores mean little when the contest turns to match play.
Sato moves on to play Ka’ena Kaulia this morning in the quarterfinals and Rodriguez will take on Punahou’s Jordan Takai. The other quarterfinals are Maximus Waki vs. Ryan Takeshita and Derek Chinen vs. Taylor George.
The third round was as much about the winning caddies as the players.
Rodriguez, at 40 the oldest player remaining in the tournament, hadn’t played in the event in 16 years but regained his amateur status recently and decided to fly home from California for Fathers Day to surprise his grandfather, Tony Hackney, with the opportunity to escort him around Oahu Country Club for a week.
“My grandpa is out here driving the cart around and I am so fortunate to have him out here with me,” Rodriguez said. “He has basically been my dad. He taught me how to play golf and got me introduced to the game and I am really fortunate he is still around and we can share the experience of getting around the mountain with each other.”
Rodriguez is in the quarterfinals for the first time — his biggest previous Manoa Cup victory was taking out No. 4 seed Jared Sawada in the first round in 2006. His first loss in match play came in 2002 to Blaine Kimura, who served as young Tom’s caddie on Thursday. Tom won the second hole with a 30-foot putt and didn’t take another until the 14th, when he was five holes down with five to play.
“I knew that coming out today and playing against Drew, I knew he shot 68 on Monday and I knew I had to play good golf and not chop it around,” Rodriguez said. “I played the first 13 holes pretty flawlessly, I was able to build a lead and gave him a little bit of daylight on 14 and we are going to have to clean that up tomorrow.”
While Hackney provided perspective and moral support for Rodriguez, Sato’s mule was more hands-on. The former Hawaii Hilo player had 2024 runner-up Anson Cabello on his bag and leaned into his knowledge of the course.
Sato has been playing this event since his junior golf days and had never won successive matches or upset a higher seed. He has now done it on successive days. Sato closed out Shishido, who was one of his coaches for a short time at ‘Iolani, with a nifty 6-foot putt on 15 for his third birdie to go with an eagle on the second hole.
“I lean on him a lot — not just as a caddie but as a good friend, I can’t thank him enough,” Sato said. “Having him to keep me in the moment and think about more present shots rather than future outcomes helped a lot. Especially that putt on the last hole, I don’t think I could have done it without him, I saw something totally different.”
Kaulia was Thursday’s only victor to tee it up on the 18th hole, parring it to beat Chance Wilson’s bogey and win that match 2-up. He never trailed but also never grew his lead larger than two. Both players shot 74.
Top seed Ava Cepeda of Kahuku will take on Punahou senior Samantha Monroe in today’s women’s final beginning at 7 a.m.
Cepeda, a sophomore at New Mexico, took the lead on the third hole against Kady Matsumoto and never let it go, highlighted by two eagles in a 4&3 victory. Monroe fought her way through the 16-woman bracket as the 15 seed and needed 20 holes to beat Mariko Yonemura on Thursday.
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A day after Brandan Kop and Josh Hayashida fell in the second round, Sam Rodriguez beat Drew Tom and Jordan Sato topped Spencer Shishido in the third round, both 4&3. Tom and Shishido shot 68s in qualifying, while Sato carded a 73 and Rodriguez came home with a 72. Those scores mean little when the contest turns to match play.
Sato moves on to play Ka’ena Kaulia this morning in the quarterfinals and Rodriguez will take on Punahou’s Jordan Takai. The other quarterfinals are Maximus Waki vs. Ryan Takeshita and Derek Chinen vs. Taylor George.
The third round was as much about the winning caddies as the players.
Rodriguez, at 40 the oldest player remaining in the tournament, hadn’t played in the event in 16 years but regained his amateur status recently and decided to fly home from California for Fathers Day to surprise his grandfather, Tony Hackney, with the opportunity to escort him around Oahu Country Club for a week.
“My grandpa is out here driving the cart around and I am so fortunate to have him out here with me,” Rodriguez said. “He has basically been my dad. He taught me how to play golf and got me introduced to the game and I am really fortunate he is still around and we can share the experience of getting around the mountain with each other.”
Rodriguez is in the quarterfinals for the first time — his biggest previous Manoa Cup victory was taking out No. 4 seed Jared Sawada in the first round in 2006. His first loss in match play came in 2002 to Blaine Kimura, who served as young Tom’s caddie on Thursday. Tom won the second hole with a 30-foot putt and didn’t take another until the 14th, when he was five holes down with five to play.
“I knew that coming out today and playing against Drew, I knew he shot 68 on Monday and I knew I had to play good golf and not chop it around,” Rodriguez said. “I played the first 13 holes pretty flawlessly, I was able to build a lead and gave him a little bit of daylight on 14 and we are going to have to clean that up tomorrow.”
While Hackney provided perspective and moral support for Rodriguez, Sato’s mule was more hands-on. The former Hawaii Hilo player had 2024 runner-up Anson Cabello on his bag and leaned into his knowledge of the course.
Sato has been playing this event since his junior golf days and had never won successive matches or upset a higher seed. He has now done it on successive days. Sato closed out Shishido, who was one of his coaches for a short time at ‘Iolani, with a nifty 6-foot putt on 15 for his third birdie to go with an eagle on the second hole.
“I lean on him a lot — not just as a caddie but as a good friend, I can’t thank him enough,” Sato said. “Having him to keep me in the moment and think about more present shots rather than future outcomes helped a lot. Especially that putt on the last hole, I don’t think I could have done it without him, I saw something totally different.”
Kaulia was Thursday’s only victor to tee it up on the 18th hole, parring it to beat Chance Wilson’s bogey and win that match 2-up. He never trailed but also never grew his lead larger than two. Both players shot 74.
Top seed Ava Cepeda of Kahuku will take on Punahou senior Samantha Monroe in today’s women’s final beginning at 7 a.m.
Cepeda, a sophomore at New Mexico, took the lead on the third hole against Kady Matsumoto and never let it go, highlighted by two eagles in a 4&3 victory. Monroe fought her way through the 16-woman bracket as the 15 seed and needed 20 holes to beat Mariko Yonemura on Thursday.
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