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The History of the
Manoa Cup
The oldest continuous golf tournament in Hawaii is
the Manoa Cup Championship. The Manoa Cup is behind
only the U.S. Open, U.S. Amateur and The Western
Open making it the 4th longest running tournament in
the Nation! 1907 marked its first tournament and it
is still going strong. It began when Messrs
Arthur F. Wall and James D. Dougherty donated a
trophy cup to their Club, the old Manoa Golf Club in
Manoa Valley sometime between late 1905 and early
1907.
The actual
date that the Manoa nine hole links terminated its
operations cannot be ascertained, however, it is
believed that the grounds were gradually phased out
during 1906-1907 with the Manoa Club's complete
disbandment in September 1908. With Oahu Country
Club coming into existence on June 8, 1906, there
was a close relationship between the two Clubs, with
many of the Manoa Club members joining O.C.C. as
Charter Members.
The engraving
on Messrs Wall and Dougherty's Cup states "Manoa
Golf Club Championship", but apparently the Cup was
never offered as a prize in any of the Manoa Club's
tournaments. In view of the closing of the old
Manoa links, its members donated the trophy to Oahu
Country Club.
The first
time the Cup was pledged in a golf tournament was on
September 8, 1907, in the Territorial Open held on
Oahu Country Club's new 9 hole links for the
championship of the Islands. The contest was
advertised as the Manoa Cup tournament and it has
continued under this name throughout its history.
The tournament has been played every year since 1907
except for the World War II years of 1942 and 1943.
The trophy is now often referred to as the "historic
prestigious Manoa Cup".
The winner of
the tournament does not receive the Manoa Cup but
instead his name is engraved on the perpetual
trophy, which is kept on display in the Clubhouse at
Oahu Country Club. Each year the winner is given a
small cup or shield as a memento plus other golf
related merchandise.
In 1914, Wall
and Dougherty donated to O.C.C. a large plaque
designed in the shape of a shield with the words
"Oahu Country Club -- Honolulu Champions" engraved
on it. The plaque was used in conjunction with the
Manoa Cup trophy as the tournament winners had their
names engraved on small shields which were then
placed on the large plaque. Small shields were also
placed on the plaque for the previous winners
starting in 1907. In 1935, the plaque was retired,
as there was no remaining space for additional
shields. The old plaque is now on display in our
Clubhouse.
In the early
years, Oahu Country Club's course was continuously
being altered. For example, when the first
tournament was held in 1907, the course was 2,813
yards in length; in 1910, six holes were revised and
the yardage was reduced to 2,727 yards. In 1913,
the old links was extended to 18 holes with a length
of 4,940 yards. Therefore, the old winning scores
cannot be considered on a truly comparative basis.
At the
inception of the Manoa Cup tournament, the format
was a combination of gross medal handicap
competition. The entrants played 36 holes with
handicaps the first day. The low 16 players
qualified to play 36 holes the following week with
no handicaps. The player shooting the low gross
medal score became the champion of the Islands.
Originally,
golf in the Islands was played by persons of
affluence. By 1919, persons of all income levels
were playing the game and an enormous number wanted
to enter the popular Manoa Cup tournament.
Commencing in 1919, in order to reduce the load on
our short course, only 18 holes were played in the
qualifying round; however, the 16 qualifiers played
36 holes medal play in the final round the following
week.
In 1924, the
tournament was limited to amateur players only.
Also that year, entrants who were not members of
Oahu Country Club were allowed to play at our Club
on Friday and Saturday before the qualifying round
on Sunday. Those who qualified were allowed to play
on the course the entire week. The entrance fee was
increased from fifty cents to one dollar. (In 1986,
it cost $42.00 to enter the tournament.)
Another
change was made to the format in 1926. The low 16
qualifiers in medal play entered into match play for
18 holes. However, the two finalists were required
to play 36 holes.
The 1928
tournament was scheduled to be played in May and, as
customary, many entrants prepaid their tournament
fees. At that time there was no central governing
body and tournaments were managed by committees
chosen for specific tournaments. The committee
members supervising the Manoa Cup suddenly on May
23, 1928, decided to postpone the event and
substitute the Atherton trophy medal tournament to
be held at the new superior Waialae course. The new
course was of modern design, long and had up-to-date
greens. The previously paid entry fees were
refunded to the players.
Later that
year, the Manoa Cup tournament continued as in the
past, only the matches were played at the Waialae
location under sponsorship of Oahu Country Club.
During the ensuing years, substantial improvements
were made to Oahu Country Club's course.
In 1929, the
second year that the tournament was held at Waialae,
the format was changed to again require 36 holes of
play to qualify for the tournament. Starting in
1932, the semifinal players were required to go 36
holes similar to the finalists.
In 1930, the
Hawaiian Golf Association was formed to govern
Hawaii's tournament affairs. In 1933, the
Association believed that O.C.C.'s course had
improved to an acceptable level to hold the Manoa
Cup tournament at its home in Nuuanu every other
year with Waialae. Therefore, the tournament was
played at O.C.C. in 1933, 1935, 1937, 1939 and 1941,
and at Waialae on the even years of 1934, 1936, 1938
and 1940.
No thought
was given to continue the tournament in 1942 because
of the war situation in Hawaii that year. However,
in 1943 the members of the Hawaiian Golf Association
requested the use of our course for the tournament
as they believed there was no threat of invasion of
the Islands by the enemy and the condition of our
course had greatly improved. O.C.C.'s Board of
Directors refused the Association's request. The
request was made again in 1944, at which time the
Board reluctantly agreed but suggested to the
Association that it limit entrants to handicaps of
six or less and request the players to take all
precautions possible to ensure the least damage to
the course. The tournament has been held at Oahu
Country Club every year since it was reinstituted in
1944.
In 1959, a
new tradition was started. After the champagne was
poured into the silver Manoa Cup mug to start the
victory celebration, the new winner was tossed into
the Club's swimming pool.
The old Manoa
Cup mysteriously disappeared after Art Fujita won
the tournament in 1964, and was not presented to
Billy Arakawa in 1965 or to Ken Miyaoka in 1966
after they won.
During the
1966 tournament, Dr. Kiyoshi Iseki, a Honolulu
dentist and avid golfer, read in the newspaper that
the historic Manoa Cup trophy had been lost and that
the Oahu Country Club was planning to replace it
with another trophy. He remembered seeing it in a
local trophy house. The old cup had been taken
there for engraving probably by an official of the
Hawaiian Golf Association but he never came back to
pick it up. Dr. Iseki returned to the trophy house
and learned it was still there so he notified Arthur
(Babe) Carter, then President of the Hawaiian Golf
Association. Babe picked up the trophy, had it
polished, and said "hereafter we will leave it in
the trophy case at Oahu Country Club where it
belongs."
In
appreciation for his locating the old sentimental
cup, Dr. Iseki was invited to play golf at the Club
with a foursome of his choice, plus lunch or dinner,
with everything "on the house".
The Club
initiated the practice in 1968 of donating
merchandise for the Manoa Cup prize in addition to
the blazer jacket and a miniature replica of the
trophy. In 1973, the winner was also given free
membership to the Club for one year. In 1979, this
practice was terminated by our Club after an
investigation revealed it was a questionable
practice under a strict interpretation of amateur
regulations.
From 1979 to the present, there has
been little changed in the running of the Manoa
Cup. The Manoa Cup continues to be one of the most
significant amateur tournaments in the U.S.
2001- The 93rd running of the tournament,
Michelle Wie made history becoming the first female
and youngest (age 11) to qualify for the match-play.
2002- History was made again in 2002, the 94th running of the tournament by two
players. 15-year-old Travis Toyama defeated Damien
Victorino 5 & 3 to become the youngest player in 94
years to win and Michelle Wie became the youngest
and first female (age 12) to advance to the second
round of match-play. The qualifying field also made
history with a record setting 121 golfers battling
it out for 63 spots. The tournament also embraced
technology with it's first real-time online
scoring of the championship match provided by
808Golf.com.
2003- In the 95th Manoa Cup, the tournament
will make history yet again as it will be featured
in a 30 minute TV show produced by 808Golf TV.
11-year-old Bradley Shigezawa became the youngest
player to qualify for match-play edging Michelle Wie
by about 3 months.
2005-
17-year-old Mari Chun became the second female to
qualify for the match-play
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