Kahuku alum Cepeda defeats Punahou’s Monroe to win women’s Manoa Cup

A steady rain was not about to halt Ava Cepeda’s steady reign.Cepeda, a New Mexico sophomore out of Kahuku, beat Punahou senior Samantha Monroe with a birdie on the 15th hole to capture the women’s division of the Manoa Cup on Friday, completing quite a summer slam. Fresh off capturing the state amateur stroke play title, Cepeda blitzed the field to win match play at Oahu Country Club.

Hawaii State Golf Association officials say that the only other player to win both in the same year was Tyler Ota in 2019.“Today was fun, with the rain and everything. It was like a battle and it was good to be out there in these conditions,” Cepeda said.

“Its a nice relief to finally get the win.”A light rain greeted the combatants on the first tee and hung around throughout. Impervious to the weather and hilly terrain, the girl who learned the game at Kahuku Golf Course won the first two holes but lost the third when her putt lipped out.

She made a slider from 9 feet on the fourth hole to stay 1-up and then buried the shot of the day on the fifth.After a short — for her, she was ahead of Monroe all day — drive of about 220 yards into the wind, Cepeda unleashed a high shot from 50 yards that plunked onto the wet green, took one hop and disappeared into the hole. She couldn’t see the result because of the elevated surface but knew it was good, only showing an indication of her heroics with a brief smile as she took the ball out of the cup for an eagle 2.

“I figured once I didn’t see the ball on the green it was probably in,” Cepeda said. “I saw the pitch mark, too, so yea.”Monroe, who had to make the lonely walk to the back of the green to retrieve her ball, was suddenly two holes down.

She fought back to win the next hole with a birdie, but Cepeda ground her down after that and clinched the match by winning 12-13-14. Cepeda didn’t play the final three holes in match play all week, the only time she visited that part of the layout was in Monday qualifying when she shot a 67. She is the