Gary Kong, 53, hopes to become the oldest player to win the Manoa Cup, while 14-year-old Seabury Hall ninth-grader Robert Greenleaf can be the youngest champion in the 98-year history of Hawai'i's oldest golf tournament.

The oldest and youngest survivors of this year's field advanced to this morning's quarterfinals with surprisingly easy victories yesterday at Oahu Country Club.

Kong, an OCC member who lost in the 1979 final to Ernie Gonzales, upset medalist Kellen-Floyd Asao, the No. 2 seed, 4 and 2, thanks to three birdies on the back nine.

Greenleaf ended 64th-seed Bill Henry's joy ride that included a 6-and-5 victory over defending champion Travis Toyama. Greenleaf cruised to the runaway match of the third round, 5 and 4.

Shannon Tanoue overcame a three-hole deficit to stun four-time champion Brandan Kop, 2 and 1, and will face Greenleaf today. Kong will take on Craig Uyehara, who beat Alvin Okada, 3 and 2.

The other quarterfinal matches will pair Jonathan Ota against Reyn Tanaka and Pierre-Henri Soero against Steven Matsuno.

Ota birdied the final two holes to square the match and then birdied the first playoff hole to beat Thomas Herrick, a Washington dentist vacationing here, 1-up.

Tanaka, who will be a junior at Gonzaga this fall, eliminated Samuel Rodriguez III, 2 and 1. Soero, who plays for the University of Hawai'i, threw two eagles at Matthew Ma (Oregon) to win a duel between two college seniors by the same score.

Matsuno advanced by beating Gregory Ono, 3 and 2.

This morning's winners will meet in the semifinals, also scheduled for 18 holes, starting at 11:30 a.m. today. The 36-hole final is scheduled for tomorrow at 7 a.m. A first-time Manoa Cup champion is assured with Kop and Asao, who won in 2003, losing yesterday.

Tanoue ousted Kop by rallying to win four straight holes (Nos. 11 to 14) and closed the match with the shot of the day at the par-4 17th.

Tanoue drove it left and had a blind, uphill shot to the green from 85 yards out with tall paper bark trees in his path. He got his shot up quickly with a gap wedge and the ball landed 6 feet from the pin for what became a birdie.

"I couldn't believe it," Tanoue said. "I just wanted to get it anywhere on the green."

Tanoue, 28, will need more of the same today against an opponent who is half his age. "It doesn't get any easier," he said.

Whether Greenleaf can become the youngest champion — Toyama was 15 when he won in 2002 — remains to be seen. But he's got the game and credentials despite taking up golf only three years ago. His father, Bill, is a teaching pro at Dunes at Maui Lani.

Greenleaf won the Hawai'i State Junior Golf boys' 13-14 title this month at the Club at Hokuli'a. He leads the Callaway PGA Junior Tour's player-of-the-year point standings after competing in five national events on a five-week trip starting in late May that included 1,800 miles by car.

He leaves Sunday for the 10th and final event of the Callaway series at Westbrook Country Club in Mansville, Ohio. That will determine player of the year.

"It's what he wants," said Bill.

The oldest Manoa Cup champion is George Nahale Sr., who was 51 when he successfully defended his title in 1956.