Emotions ran high as UH-Manoa teammates Josh Hayashida and Dane Watanabe arrived at Oahu Country Club’s 18th hole.

Their battle began at 7 a.m. Neither led by more than one hole at any point. Both struggled to play up to their standard. But match play’s only requirement is to be better than the other golfer that day. And Watanabe made the ultimate mistake.

Hitting into a strong headwind, Watanabe let his frustration be heard after his drive landed out of bounds. Hayashida’s clean shot down the fairway thereafter all but ushered in the beginning of the match’s end. The defending Manoa Cup champion knew as much, cathartically jabbing the head of his club into the tee box’s elevated platform.

A few hundred yards later, a medley of hugs, including one shared between Hayashida and Watanabe, capped one of Thursday’s best open division matches.

Only one other round of 16 pairing went the distance.

“Walking off that 18th hole, I wasn’t really emotional because I lost, but it was more because all of my friends are waiting there to congratulate me even though I lost in the worst way possible,” Watanabe said.

Hayashida struggled on the green to start, unable to down his first birdie until the 13th hole. His prior struggles would have mattered more in a stroke-play scenario. But again, the Manoa Cup is a match-play tournament — as it has been since 1926.

The 13th hole boosted Hayashida’s confidence and neutralized Watanabe’s final lead. Two holes later, Hayashida had his first lead.

Watanabe then birdied the 16th and 17th holes, but Hayashida also birdied the 17th to set the stage. The next golfer to win a hole would advance as the open division’s first quarterfinalist.

“It was really just a matter of who’s going to make the mistake first and who can take advantage of it first,” Hayashida said.

After Hayashida improved his all-time record to 15-5 in the tournament, a repeat of last year’s Manoa Cup open championship match remains possible. Returning runner-up Kihei Akina bested James Whitworth 4-and-2.

But the path to a potential 36-hole Saturday, particularly from Hayashida’s side of the bracket, is not so cut and dried.

Hayashida has a 7:09 a.m. tee time with UH-Manoa alumnus Kolbe Irei, his former teammate who finished second in 2022, to start a Friday that could feature as many as 36 holes for either of them between the quarterfinals and semifinals.

“I’ve been saying all week that Friday is the most brutal day in this tournament,” Hayashida said.