Jay Hinazumi has been tournament director of the Manoa Cup at Oahu Country Club since 1991. In all these years, he has never seen a more impressive performance than what Alex Ching pulled off to win the 100th playing of Hawai'i's oldest golf tournament.

Ching, a recent Punahou School graduate who will enter the University of San Diego this fall, shot 29-under-par over 128 holes, including the qualifying round when his 5-under 66 shared medalist honors with four-time champion Brandan Kop.

Ching was only 1-under in his opening two matches — both 5-and-4 victories over Whitey Kaho'ohanohano and Ethan Wang. He then got hot, playing 6-under in beating Jared Sawada, 9 and 8, closing out the match by eagling the par-4 10th hole with a 25-foot putt. He was 8-under for 24 holes against Travis Toyama and 5-under against TJ Kua.

Ching threw nine birdies, six in the first 11 holes, at Jonathan Ota before their championship match ended at the par-3 11th, saving the 46-year-old Kaua'i native from having to hike up OCC's two steepest holes.

"Every time I looked up, he was this far from the hole," said Ota, holding his hands less than two feet apart. "I had to charge for birdies every time."

Ching posted 41 birdies and an eagle during the week.

"He had his A-game," said Hinazumi, who added that Ching's birdie putt at the 18th to survive the quarterfinal match against Toyama, a two-time winner, reminded him of the birdie putt at the 72nd hole that Tiger Woods had to make to win his third U.S. Open. It was a must-make putt for birdie to force a playoff with Rocco Mediate in their epic duel at Torrey Pines.

Tiger sank it and the rest is history.

Ching also made history by sinking his birdie putt of the same distance — 12 feet — to stay alive.

"That was the key. That was the biggest putt of the tournament," said Ching, who went on to beat Toyama, 1-up, in a stirring duel that went 24 holes. Ching then advanced with a 1-up victory in 19 holes over Kua in the semifinals later that afternoon. By comparison, his victory in the 36-hole final the next day over Ota was a cakewalk as the score indicated, 8 and 7.

"Actually, when I was walking up the fairway on that hole, I was thinking about Tiger Woods making that putt. Trying to do the same," said Ching, who had a nasty downhill, downgrain, downwind putt that broke right to left. The slick Oahu Country Club greens had a stimpmeter reading of 11, but it was easily 13 on Ching's roll to glory.

And what a roll it has been this year for the 18-year-old Ching, who didn't play high school golf until his senior year. He won the Interscholastic League of Honolulu and state golf titles, captured the Hickam Invitational and was the lone amateur in the Sony Open in Hawai'i. He can now add the Manoa Cup, which represents the state amateur match-play championship, to his resume.

"For me, personally, it's such an honor to be part of that group of the past 99 winners. It feels like such a huge accomplishment," said Ching. And being a member of OCC, which hosts the event, makes it even more special, he said. Regarding his banner year, Ching says, "It's been fun every step of the way. Hopefully, it keeps on going."

It'll slow down a bit this summer, though. He'll try to qualify for the U.S. Amateur and will play the Army Invitational and defend his OCC Invitational title. But most of his spare time will be devoted to his sister, Alina, an incoming sophomore at Punahou, and a member of the Buffanblu golf team that won the state girls championship.

"It's her time to play well, to buckle down. She has those great first rounds. She needs a lot more experience to get those second rounds together. She wants to play golf in college. This is her way to get there," said Ching, who took a similar path to get a partial college scholarship.

Alina has qualified for the Junior World in San Diego and the Optimist International Junior Golf Championship in Florida, and will play in an American Junior Golf Association tournament in Virginia.

The Optimist, in particular, is a major junior tournament. Ching won it last year, adding his name to a list of past champions including some in 1984 you might have heard of — Tiger Woods, 10-under; Ernie Els, 13-14; David Toms, 15-17, for the boys. The girls champions that year were Leta Lindley (11-12), now on the LPGA Tour, and Hawai'i's own Jill Hamasaki (10-under).

With his victory in the Manoa Cup, Ching has clinched a spot on the amateur team for the Governor's Cup. Ching hopes to return from San Diego to play in the event.

"It kind of conflicts with school on the Mainland and I think there may be some NCAA rule where you're not allowed to get it done. I don't know if it's a coach's thing," said Ching, referring to Kurt Nino (USF) and Sean Maekawa (Oregon), who didn't come back home to play last year.

"I talked to my coach (Tim Mickelson) already and hopefully, he's going to let me come back to play because it's such a good tournament. I definitely want to come back," Ching said.

Golf has provided a lot of thrills so far and a ticket to college for Ching. But does he regret not concentrating on it full-time instead of playing tennis?

"Not at all," said Ching, a two-time state high school doubles champion. "Playing tennis in high school was something I had always looked forward to since I was in the seventh grade because it's such a great legacy (at Punahou) that you want to be part of it.

"I play golf three-fourths of a year. So that one-quarter is for me to take a break. I think if I didn't take a break, I might have been burnt out like when I was 15 or something, and not enjoy the game as I do now."

That said, Ching's summer job will be giving lessons — in tennis — at The Oahu Club in Hawai'i Kai.

Bill Kwon can be reached at billkwonrhs@aol.com