Manoa Cup has always been the site of the spectacular in Hawai'i golf. The 100th year is no exception, and the final hasn't even started yet.

Matches for the ages yesterday fittingly produced a state match-play final between the ages. Jonathan Ota, 46, will attempt to win his second Manoa Cup in three years today against 18-year-old state high school champion Alex Ching. The first round begins at 7 a.m., with the final 18 holes slated for 11:30 a.m. at Oahu Country Club.

"It's sad when their parents are younger than me," said Ota, general manager at Tip Top cafe on Kaua'i. "That's brutal."

When Ota won his state high school championship in 1979, Ching wasn't born. Yesterday, Ching seemingly tried to make up for that lack of experience in a nine-hour span, playing — and walking — 43 holes to reach his first final.

He won an outrageous quarterfinal against two-time Manoa Cup champion Travis Toyama, 1-up on the 24th hole, in the morning. It was a match made in highlight heaven with both shooting 7-under-par 64. Ching tied it by birdieing the last two holes of regulation, then won with his third birdie in six playoff holes — this one conceded when Toyama ran into tree trouble.

The last two holes were not nearly as kind to the OCC member in the afternoon.

TJ Kua completed a comeback from 3-down by driving the par-4 17th (344 yards) and two-putting for birdie to halve the match. His second shot to 18 bolted over the green — "the wind died and I gunned it" — and Ching had a three-footer for par to win. In front of spectators from 25 golf carts, he missed it.

"Just tired I guess," Ching shrugged. "Silly kind of putt. It broke a lot. I didn't realize it."

Ching and Kua, who stopped Brandan Kop's charge for a fifth Cup by birdieing the last two holes of their quarterfinal, share more than gaudy golf resumes.

Ching just graduated from Punahou and is on his way to the University of San Diego. He qualified for the Sony Open in Hawai'i this year and won the Hickam Invitational as a warmup for his state high school title. Kua, who will play for the University of Hawai'i, is the nephew of Hawai'i Golf Hall of Famer David Ishii. The Kamehameha graduate was this year's ILH Golfer of the Year and low amateur at the Mid-Pacific Open.

The two are close friends, so close that Kua is staying with the Chings this week. As they walked through the parking lot to the first tee and sudden death, Kua, trying to become the first lefthander to win in 29 years, consoled Ching.

Minutes later, after shockers stacked up in sudden death, it was Ching doing the consoling.

He hit the fairway at No. 1 and so did Kua, but his was the second fairway. Ching's approach shot stopped 16 feet below the hole, putting more pressure on Kua, who responded by hitting a pitching wedge over the trees to within five feet of the pin.

"That was an amazing shot, he just knocked it straight over the trees," said Ching, who laughed, applauded, stared down his putt, and drained it.

Kua playfully hit him with his putter, studied his birdie opportunity to tie ... and missed.

"After Alex made his putt mine looked like it was 100 feet away, back in the fairway. ..." Kua said. "It was like Rocco (Mediate) said, he wanted to 'make Tiger do something.' I wanted to make Alex have to do something to reach the final."

Ota has been so solid this week he has yet to play the 17th hole. He was 2-down to Wade Nakamura, a 38-year-old insurance agent who ousted defending champion Kurt Nino, going into the eighth hole. Ota won four straight and nearly holed out from the trees to go 3-up on the 14th. This is Oda's 10th Manoa Cup and the second time he has reached a final.

"Both Wade and I just got tired," Oda said. "You could tell by the way we were hitting some shots. After the quarterfinal I was in the locker room, lying down stretching. Just so happened Wade was there. He said he had to go to acupuncture, had a massage. We were tired and worn out already."

This centennial celebration means a lot to Oda, who finally found "total satisfaction" in golf when he won two years ago. Now all he has to do is out-fox an 18-year-old who has a man's game and a boy's legs, while walking 400 feet up the Nu'uanu Valley again — twice.

www.808Golf.com will have hole-by-hole scores, in "almost real-time," for today's final.

YESTERDAY'S RESULTS

Quarterfinals: Wade Nakamura def. Kurt Nino, 3 and 2; Jonathan Ota def. Michael Park, 4 and 3; Alex Ching def. Travis Toyama, 1-up (24); TJ Kua def. Brandan Kop, 1-up.

Semifinals: Jonathan Ota def. Wade Nakamura, 4 and 2; Alex Ching def. TJ Kua, 1-up (19).