Japan won 14 1/2 points in yesterday's final singles matches to capture the inaugural USA Hawai'i-Japan Junior Cup at Waikoloa Kings' Course on the Big Island. The final score was 24 1/2 to 19 1/2.

The event brought together 22 of the finest golfers from the Japan High School Golf Association (13 boys, nine girls) and 22 from the Hawai'i State Junior Golf Association, to play in a Ryder Cup-style format. There were 11 team matches each of the first two days — nine coed and two matches with all boys.

Hawai'i won six of Saturday's Foursome (alternate shot) matches and got two halves, to erase a first-day deficit and climb into a 12-10 lead going into singles. But on the final day, Japan won 13 matches and halved three to overtake Hawai'i.

"Because we were down yesterday by two points, we had a team meeting and what we stressed was not to give up," Japan coach Fumitaka Kizuki said through an interpreter. "We told them to look up, walk tall, walk fast and no matter what happened today fight strong and never give up."

Both sides apparently had the same idea. Ten of yesterday's matches went the full 18 holes, with Japan winning four. One of the rare one-sided matches was Kimberly Kim's 6-and-5 victory over Nagasa Hamamoto. Kim, the 2006 U.S. Women's Amateur champion from Hilo who now lives in Arizona, was given an exemption into the event.

Both teams were unfamiliar with match play. The HSJGA staged its first match-play event this year. The Japan team called "several coaches" back home Saturday for final-day advice.

Japan junior Shunta Maeawakura called the format "a wonderful challenge." Punahou senior Alex Ching, who beat Maeawakura 1-up, characterized it as "lots of mind games."

"You have to think more about what the other person is doing," Ching said. "You can't just worry about getting the ball in the hole as fast as you can."

Mary Bea Porter-King, one of the Hawai'i coaches and the HSJGA president, tried to remind her team that even though it lost, there was no shame in a small state falling to a large country.

"A lot of lessons were learned about how to play and carry yourselves," Porter-King said. "I'm most proud of how the kids did carry themselves in victory and defeat. I couldn't ask for more from them. They grinded out every shot. There were some tears. That tells me it meant a lot to them."

Maui's Elyse Okada won her match, 2 and 1, and discovered — before she gets to Oregon State in the fall — how fulfilling playing for a team can be.

"It's really different," Okada said. "I think everybody enjoyed the experience. We consider each other family now; we got really close. We tried our hardest and gave our hearts."

The event is a benefit for the American Cancer Society, The Waikoloa Foundation and both junior golf associations. It is scheduled to be played in Hawai'i again next year, then rotate between Japan and Hawai'i.

"Having gone through this format, we'd absolutely like to come back and participate with the exact same format," Kizuki said. "It's a wonderful way for kids to play and very competitive."