The Manoa Cup, starting Monday at the Oahu Country Club, might be the oldest continuous golf tournament locally — and the fourth oldest nationally after the U.S. Amateur, the U.S. Open and the Western Open — but this year's 98th tournament will have a couple of new wrinkles.

For the first time, only the 32 first-round matches will be played on Tuesday. In years past, both the first- and second-round matches were held on Tuesday. Also, the quarterfinals and semifinals will be played on the same day (Friday) for the first time with the semis to be 18 instead of 36 holes.

The championship final, still 36 holes, will be held Saturday, starting at 7 a.m.

The change, similar to the new U.S. Public Links and U.S. Amateur championships, was done to avoid having players sometimes waiting for hours to play their second-round opponents, according to tournament chairman Jay Hinazumi of the Hawai'i State Golf Association.

Defending champion Travis Toyama, who in 2002 became the youngest winner at the age of 15, is seeded No. 1 with the other 63 players for the match-play competition to be determined after Monday's 18-hole stroke-play qualifying.

Other former champions in this year's field are Ryan Perez (2004), Kellen-Floyd Asao (2003), Richard Sieradzki (1990) and Brandan Kop, who won in 1983, 1986, 1997 and 1998.

Among the nearly 100 entrants in the Hawai'i state amateur match-play championship are former state high school champions Kellen Watabu, Kurt Nino, Troy Higashiyama and Jaime Matsumura, as well as collegians Pierre-Henri Soero (Hawai'i) and Matthew Ma (Oregon).

Also, top amateurs include Blaine Kimura, Paul Kimura, Jonathan Ota, Shannon Tanoue, Spencer Shishido and 14-year-old Bradley Shigezawa.