Actually, Asao's name calls for an asterisk. He started the 2003 Manoa Cup as a teenager and turned 20 the day he won the title. Who says the Manoa Cup doesn't age you?

It is at least 162 holes of golf — counting the qualifying round and if every match goes the distance (not counting playoffs) — over six straight days.

Perez, who at least doesn't have to qualify as the defending champion, says he is ready for the golfing marathon.

"It was my first major win," Perez said about his 5 and 4 triumph over Shannon Tanoue in last year's 36-hole final at the Oahu Country Club.

As the top seed this year, he is eager for a repeat.

"I like the feeling. I know I've done it before, so I figure I can do it again," said Perez, who completed his freshman year at UH. "And match play is my thing. It's easier to come back after a bad hole."

He didn't have too many bad holes last year. He never went beyond the 16th hole in any of his first five matches and never lost the honors on the tee for the last 19 holes in the final against Tanoue.

The 18-hole qualifying round for the other spots in the 64-player field will be held Monday morning.

The grueling test of golf favors the young guys, especially since 1999 when the tournament schedule was changed to eliminate one day's rest between the 36-hole semifinals and the 36-hole final.

That has been a big difference to the older guys, according to Brandan Kop, 44, who has found it difficult to win his fifth Manoa Cup crown after back-to-back victories in 1997 and 1998.

"The young guys are not only getting better, they're not intimidated. They have no fear," Kop said.

The age difference really hit Guy Yamamoto, another forty-something multi-winner and 1994 national public links champion.

When Yamamoto played Perez in the third round last year, the youngster asked the one-time UH golfer, "You've won this tournament before, haven't you?"

"Twice," Yamamoto said. Asked when was the first time, Yamamoto looked at Perez, then shook his head before replying. He knew Perez was only 18.

"Before you were born, 1985."

"Yeah, you're right," said Perez, who was born in 1986 at Fort Bragg, N.C., where his father, Alan, a 27-year career Army man, had been stationed.

The family — which includes mom, Pattie, and a sister, Melissa — moved to Hawai'i five years ago. Moanalua High School and its boys golf team soon had a student athlete with a North Carolina accent.

Perez was bummed after losing the 2004 state high school championship in his senior year to Damien's Kurt Nino by double bogeying the second playoff hole after taking a two-stroke lead into the final round. It was also on his 18th birthday.

But Perez more than made up for it by winning the Manoa Cup three weeks later on June 12 — his mom's birthday.

Interestingly, Perez is going into this year's 97th Manoa Cup following another recent tournament that ended in disappointment. He and partner Reyn Tanaka lost, 1 up, to a pair of 14-year-olds, Tadd Fujikawa and Alex Chu, in the finals of the 54th Brown Four-Ball Championship last month at the Ala Wai Golf Course.

Perez now knows how the "old guys" feel.

"Those kids can play. Tadd's really good, but when he messed up, Alex came through. My putt at 17 (the 35th hole of the day) had a mean lip-out. I wish we were going into the last hole even," Perez said.

Perez, however, won't be running into Fujikawa next week, eliminating any chance for a match that pro Kevin Ralbovsky, who teaches both of them, would love to have seen.

Fujikawa, a Moanalua Intermediate School eighth-grader who played in last year's Manoa Cup, is skipping this year because of a scheduling conflict. He and Shunsuke Aonuma of Iolani School, along with Punahou School's Stephanie Kono, are playing in an American Junior Golf Association tournament in Colorado next week.

"I'm really going to miss the Manoa Cup. But I think getting my name out nationally is much more important," said Fujikawa, who became the youngest winner of the Hickam Amateur Invitational in May.

Perez agreed.

"I'm glad for him. He needs to get more exposure. But I wish he was here. I'd like to play him heads up."

The young guys might be dominating local golf these days. But it was good to see some familiar old faces in the recent golf outing involving former Manoa Cup champions.

Besides Kop and Yamamoto, also playing with the media and OCC directors were Curtis Kono, now OCC's golf course superintendent, Jack Omuro, Les Uyehara, Art Fujita, five-time winner Ken Miyaoka and 1970 champion Harold Perry, making just his second visit to the Islands since leaving 30 years ago.

He now lives in Myrtle Beach, S.C.