HONOLULU — Kellie Yamane took a couple of practice swings, positioned herself behind her ball to gaze down the No. 15 fairway at Oahu Country Club, and noticed something right before she stepped up to drive it.
“Hey, it’s a cat,” Yamane said to her Manoa Cup women’s final opponent and good friend Karissa Kilby, who stood nearby waiting her turn to hit. Without hesitation, Yamane then smacked the ball solidly onto the fairway.
Kilby shook her head and laughed; she couldn’t believe Yamane didn’t pause a beat to gather herself.
Iolani graduate Yamane made long birdie putts on that hole and the next to narrow the competition, but Punahou alumna Kilby hit the decisive approach shot to within 15 feet on No. 18 to stave off her friend and claim the state’s amateur match play championship title, 2 up.
“It was really fun, because we do have those little moments like that and we don’t take it too seriously,” said Kilby, 20, an incoming junior with Florida International University’s women’s golf team. “Obviously every time we step up to the ball we’re competitors and we’re doing the best that we can and trying to beat each other, but the moments in between are really fun and I’m glad it was her that I was playing.”
On the men’s side, Kahuku’s Kihei Akina and Mililani’s Joshua Hayashida advanced to the championship of the 114th edition of the storied event.
Akina dispatched James Whitworth, 1 up, and Anson Cabello, 3 and 2, to reach the final. On the other side of the bracket, Hayashida outlasted Keanu Akina in 19 holes and Evan Kawai in 20.
Akina and Hayashida teed off the men’s championship Saturday morning.
The women’s final was the seventh in Manoa Cup history. Kilby had previously lost in the semifinals when she was 15 and the finals at age 16. Friday was her first victory of any sort since winning the ILH championship at Turtle Bay Fazio her freshman year at Punahou.
Kilby turned heads by caddying for herself all week, a result of Yamane, her would-be caddie, continuing to beat the odds in a playoff hole in Monday’s qualifying round, then upsetting No. 1 seed and defending champion Raya Nakao in the first round of match play Tuesday.
Kilby appeared to have plenty more in the tank upon completing 88 holes for the week, hauling her bag up and down the OCC hills on foot.
“I had to prove to myself that I could win again on my own,” said Kilby, who’d endured a series of wrist injuries the last few years before breaking out at FIU with an All-Conference USA season as a sophomore in 2022-23. “This week was exhausting, but I really wouldn’t want to do anything else right now.”
Yamane faced a four-hole deficit after Kilby made a 30-foot do-over putt on No. 12 — a huge Nuuanu Valley wind gust had sent her ball back from gimme range to nearly off the green. But Yamane nearly threatened to send the match to a playoff hole with exceptional putting on Nos. 13 through 17.
“It was crazy,” Yamane, the 16th and final women’s seed, said of her week. “I guess I just learned to never give up, no matter what.”
Both players hit good drives on 18. While Kilby was able to gauge the wind with her 9 iron to plop it on the green from 135 yards, Yamane found herself between clubs on her approach shot and the wind knocked her ball down on the apron.
Yamane knew she had to play it aggressively to give herself a chance and hit her ensuing chip to the far fringe. From there, she faced a difficult par putt and sent it by the hole. She conceded the hole and the match with Kilby only needing to two-putt to win on a straightaway lie.
Yamane, a member of Hawaii Pacific’s golf team, laughed afterward about the moment with the cat, which seemed to put both players at ease in a highly competitive situation.
“I think if it was a different situation against someone I didn’t know, I’d be a lot more nervous,” Yamane said. “But since I knew her so well, I had a lot of fun today, even when I was down. We’d make jokes to each other.”
The two shared a hug afterward. Kilby, who somehow had the energy to play more golf, eschewed the traditional winner’s pool toss at the OCC clubhouse to get ready for a practice round at Waialae Country Club for Monday’s Women’s Amateur Qualifier tournament.
Instead, Kilby and Yamane tossed Kilby’s younger brother, Jonah, into the pool.
Some more photos of the women's final:
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.