HONOLULU — Thirty-six holes were not enough to distinguish a champion between two colleagues.

Joshua Hayashida rallied from 4 down with four holes to play and defeated University of Hawaii golf teammate Anson Cabello on the second playoff hole for a repeat Manoa Cup open division title at Oahu Country Club on Saturday.

Hayashida, a rising junior at UH who graduated from Hawaii Baptist Academy, was in dire straits when Cabello, a rising sophomore out of Kamehameha-Maui, claimed a four-hole lead on the 32nd hole of the state amateur match-play championship.

But the defending champ birdied the par-5 No. 15 and posted three straight pars to keep the pressure on while Cabello faltered.

The first 18 holes were close, with neither player going up by more than one hole. Cabello separated early in the second 18, claiming hole Nos. 3 through 5 for a strong lead that he held until the fateful final holes.

The two halved the first playoff hole at No. 1. Hayashida made par while Cabello bogeyed on No. 2, and the Mililani native got the ceremonial toss in the OCC pool for the second straight year. He was the first repeat champion since Peter Jung in 2021 and 2022.

Per UH, it was the first meeting of Rainbow Warriors in the final of the 64-player state amateur match-play championship since 1995, when Mike Pavao defeated Regan Lee.

It was an exceptionally strong Manoa Cup for UH golf; five of its players made the quarterfinals.

UH coach Scott Simpson has his players practice at OCC every Tuesday.

“This is a great event. Thanks to Oahu (CC) and HSJGA for putting this on, (it’s been going) over 100 years,” Simpson told Spectrum News on Friday, after the all-UH final was set. “It gives all these guys confidence. That’s so important in golf. Just to have confidence and believe you can do it. This is a chance for them to gain experience and play under pressure. It just gets them better.

“Anson is going to be a sophomore, and Josh a junior. So they still got plenty of years to go and learn and improve. But at the same time, this bodes really well for the team. We’re looking forward to a really good year.”

Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.