At multiple points on Friday, Joshua Hayashida figured his run in the Manoa Cup was over.

Instead, he’ll make his first appearance in the championship match of the state’s longest running golf tournament after crafting a stunning finish to his 39-hole day at Oahu Country Club.

After yanking his tee shot on the 20th hole of his semifinal match with Evan Kawai into the deep rough, Hayashida punched an iron up the left side of the fairway and found himself 25 yards off the green for his third shot.

With Kawai safely on the green, Hayashida took a moment to visualize his next shot.

“I saw the chip and I was like, ‘You know what, this looks like I can chip it in,’” Hayashida said.

He turned the mental image into reality when he took his swing, watched the ball track toward the pin, then let out a yell when it dropped for an eagle.

“I thought I was done,” Hayashida said. “Off the tee, once I ripped it left I thought the match was over.”

And when his final chip fell …

“I was in shock,” he said. “I didn’t have anything left. I put all my energy into that shot. I had a feeling (Kawai) was going to maybe make (his putt), and I knew I had to hit a good one, just keep the match going.”

When Kawai’s 25-foot putt stayed out of the cup, Hayashida could look ahead to yet another long day at the course.

Hayashida, who recently completed his freshman season with the University of Hawaii men’s golf program, will face Kihei Akina, one of the nation’s top juniors, in today’s 36-hole final at OCC.

The championship match starts at 7 a.m., with the second 18 holes scheduled for 11:30.

An All-Akina final was still in play for much of Friday morning, with 17-year-old Kihei locked in a quarterfinal duel with UH’s James Whitworth while older brother Keanu built a 3-up lead against Hayashida.

While Kihei Akina held off Whitworth 1 up to advance to Friday afternoon’s semifinal round, Hayashida rallied to force extra holes against Keanu Akina — who was 7 under through 13 holes — and moved on with a birdie on the 19th hole.

“I was telling my caddie (Zachary Sagayaga), if (Keanu Akina) keeps this going, I’m going to hold my head high if I lose,” Hayashida said. “I think the past Manoa Cups helped me. It’s the mindset of, ‘I’m playing good, I can’t be down on myself, I just have to keep grinding this out.’ So much respect for him. He played super solid.”

Kihei Akina reached the championship match in his Manoa Cup debut with a 3-and-2 win over Maui’s Anson Cabello, and Hayashida’s dramatic finish completed the final pairing of the week.

Akina is entering his junior year at Lone Peak High School in Utah as a two-time 6A state champion and ranked fifth in the nation by the PGA National High School Golf Association.

Keanu, a junior at BYU, reached the round of 16 in last year’s Manoa Cup, and caddied for his brother in the semifinals.

“This course is very up and down, a lot of side-slopes, so he told me a little bit about it,” said Kihei Akina, who never trailed in his match with Cabello. “I did get to play a practice round, so that was nice. The biggest thing is just getting your (yardage) numbers out here.”

Akina’s family visits Hawaii each summer, and he spent most of his week on Oahu at OCC before returning to Utah to play in the state amateur championship, continuing a summer swing that included stops in Indiana, Ohio, North Carolina and Hawaii over the past couple of weeks.

“I always miss Hawaii, so it’s great coming back,” Akina said.

After surviving the morning round, Hayashida opened his semifinal by chipping in for birdie on the first hole against Kawai, who also went 19 holes against UH’s Isaiah Kanno in the quarterfinals.

Hayashida was 2 up through 11 holes, but Kawai won the next two holes to even the match and took the lead with a birdie at the 17th. Hayashida’s hopes appeared to dim when he pulled his tee shot at No. 18 into the 15th fairway. But he landed his wedge 8 feet above the pin and calmly dropped his birdie putt to go to extra holes for the second time on the day.

“Once I put that line down, standing over the ball and I was so confident I was going to make it,” said Hayashida, the 2022 high school state champion at Hawaii Baptist Academy.

After both players parred No. 1, Hayashida’s recovery on No. 2 extended his run in the tournament and ended Kawai’s bid to claim a Manoa Cup title after runner-up finishes in 2017 and ’19.

“When you’re playing two really good players, we’re always going to have great matches,” said Kawai, who completed his career at the University of San Diego this spring. “The winner’s going to have to hit those shots and the winner’s going to have to be clutch under pressure and do all those things. (Hayashida) played really well and managed himself really well.”