WAHIAWA — Matthew Ma found his putting touch in time to win the free-for-all better known as the U.S. Army-Hawaii Invitational yesterday at Leilehua Golf Course. Sean Maekawa fell one shot short, and could not have been happier.

"I had no expectations of winning," said Maekawa, a Honoka'a junior who closed with a 4-under-par 68. "After my round I thought maybe I had a shot at top five. Even Top 10, I would have been happy with that. Today, I don't think I could have done anything more."

Ma, a redshirt junior at University of Oregon, shot 71 to win at 1-over 217. Maekawa, worried about making the cut Friday after opening with a 79, soared into second. Jonathan Hirata (74), Alvin Okada (71) and Thomas Short (73) shared third at 220.

Second-round leader Bryan Edwards (76) and 2003 state high school champion Troy Higashiyama (75) tied for sixth, another shot back.

Twenty golfers started the final round within five shots of Edwards' lead. Ultimately it came down to Ma and Maekawa, though they played so far apart no one knew.

The difference turned out to be Ma's 20-foot birdie putt at the 16th — one of many putts he "had to make" — and did.

"After that putt I felt like I could take it. I had that feeling it really meant something," said Ma, 2003 Barbers Point Invitational champion and 2002 state high school runnerup his senior year at Iolani.

Several groups ahead, Maekawa was barreling through a bogey-free day jump-started by a chip-in eagle at No. 3.

"I putted better than I've been for awhile," Maekawa said. "I was going through some mental stuff before ... my brain wasn't processing. Today it did."

Ma thought he was in control after an eagle at the par-5 11th. It got away when he double-bogeyed the 14th (424-yard par-4) despite another huge drive that left him 117 yards away from the hole. "After that," Ma recalled, "I was like, 'Oh man, I let everybody back in.'"

He one-putted the next three holes to hold them off. By the end, he was ignoring his initial strategy of "playing the course not the person."

"The last couple of holes it felt really close," Ma said. "Then it became match play. I kind of played match play. I knew what I had to do. But I had no idea about Sean."

The 16-year-old had the low round on a final day when only four golfers broke par. The fourth was Kellan Anderson, who moved up 11 places with a 71. Anderson will be teammates with Okada and Higashiyama this fall at University of Hawai'i-Hilo.

Maekawa, the low amateur at this year's Kona Open, will have to wait for college. This summer gave him a taste of the travel. He won the Big Island's U.S. Open qualifier to advance to the O'ahu sectional, and flew to the Mainland after qualifying for the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Public Links.

Glenn Hashimoto (74-222) won the Senior Flight by six shots. Stanford Inouye (78-227) captured the A Flight and John Iyoki (77-229) the B Flight. Dennis Westmoreland (81-245) won the C Flight in a playoff over Gary Yoshinaga (85-245).