Let youth be served. They're getting younger and younger in local golf.

It's a week that began with 14-year-old Cyd Okino qualifying for the U.S. Women's Open to open the way for Allisen Corpuz, who just turned 10 in March, to play in next week's U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links in Wisconsin and erase a USGA record held by Michelle Wie. Corpuz had finished second behind Okino at the Kaua'i qualifier last month and got in as the first alternate.

In deference to all of the talented young golfers, though, it's a good time to talk about some of the truly golden oldies in the world of golf.

There is no better moment to be reminded of it than with the playing of the U.S. Open starting today at Torrey Pines in San Diego, Calif. It's one of three national championships — the U.S. men's and women's amateurs being the other two — sponsored by the USGA that will be played for the 108th time this year.

The granddaddy of them all, of course, is the British Open, first played in 1860, and teeing it up for the 137th time in July at Royal Birkdale in England. The second oldest tournament is the British Amateur dating back to 1885. But when it comes to golf history, Hawai'i can also reach back a long way in time when it comes to the oldies.

Next week the Manoa Cup will be played for the 100th time, making it the fifth oldest golf tournament in the nation after the three USGA championships and the Western Open, which is no longer its title after 103 years. It's now called the BMW Championship, which culminates the FedEx Cup playoffs.

And this past Sunday, members of the Moanalua Golf Club celebrated the 110th anniversary of the opening of their historic golf course. Just imagine, Samuel Damon building an 18-hole golf course at his Moanalua estate in 1898, less than 10 years after golf was introduced in America. For years, Moanalua members claimed their golf course was the oldest west of the Rockies. They even put up a sign at its highway entrance to that effect, taking it down when they were informed it wasn't true. The Tacoma Golf Club was founded in 1894, while a course on Santa Catalina Island opened in 1892 with only three holes, later expanding to a nine-holer in the early 1900s.

But who's counting? Golf still goes back a long way in time in Hawai'i.

According to the late golf historian Bill Gee, the guy who got me started playing the game, traveling to the Moanalua Golf Course was difficult back in those days. You had to go by train, mule-drawn streetcar or horse and buggy to get there from town. A round of golf was an all-day affair. So the folks in Manoa Valley built a nine-hole course of their own in 1904. There was even a little course in Palolo Valley years later.

When their golf course gave way to homes two years later, members of the Manoa Golf Club moved two valleys over to Nu'uanu and established the Oahu Country Club. Thus, the tournament name, Manoa Cup. OCC hosted the first Manoa Cup in 1907. The event moved to the Waialae Country Club for four years after it opened in 1928 and was played in alternate years between the two sites until the outbreak of World War II with the attack on Pearl Harbor. Competition was suspended for three years because of martial law before the Manoa Cup resumed in 1945 with OCC as the permanent site ever since for the tournament determining the state amateur match-play champion.

Moanalua also hosted several significant tournaments, including the Francis I'i Brown Four-Ball Open for 25 years (1944 to 1968) with legendary Guinea Kop winning five times, twice with his son, Danny. The club's women members staged the Moanalua Women's Invitational, beginning in 1948. It's no longer on the golf calendar, gone along with many other women's tournaments, but club president Clifford Ching and general manager Stephen Burke say there's discussion about bringing it back. That would be good news to Mary Reynolds and Mickie Turner, both 89, who reminisced about the good old days when they hosted the invitational tournament.

Today's present members, around 350 in number, are proud about the history of their course.

"This is a poor man's country club," says 80-year-old Harry Masaki, who joined the Moanalua Golf Club in 1986 after he retired "so that I could play four times a week."

"It's a good club, so reasonable and outside guys can play. And this course is not easy," adds Zippy's founder Charles Higa, who's also an Oahu Country Club member.

And what better time to let you know about a truly golden oldie in the local world of golf named Albert Souza, who is celebrating his 100th birthday today at the Kailua home of his oldest son, Albert Souza Jr.

Souza caddied at the Oahu Country Club as a 10-year-old, walking there from Kaimuki. "I had to go out and work. We had a family of 10, six boys and four girls," he said. He later caddied at the Waialae Country Club, which was a lot closer.

It was at OCC where Souza got his first set of golf clubs and started playing. One of the members threw away his clubs, bag and all, in disgust after an ugly round. Souza retrieved the set and wound up using the putter for the next 60 years.

He played Moanalua where his brother, Richard, worked, and for years at the Ala Wai Golf Course when it opened in 1931 and the other municipal courses that followed. Souza's final round of golf was at Ala Wai three years ago at the age of 97. He shot better than his age — a 94. He shot an 88 the year before.

Edward Voss, who played with Souza the day he posted that 88, said it was an honor to be in the same foursome with him. "Golfers would tell Al that this is a day they will long remember and that he was an inspiration to them."

A member of the Palolo Golf Club, Souza was always the best golfer and bowler at Lewers & Cooke, his company for 40 years, before he retired at age 65 to play three or four times a week. His only regret is not getting a hole-in-one in all those years. "I came this close," he said, holding his hands less than a foot apart.

He credits golf for his longevity. "It's good exercise," said Souza, who didn't use a golf cart until he was in his 80s when walking became difficult. A glass of wine every day helps, too, he said with a smile.

So here's a toast — a glass of wine, of course — to a life long golfer with 11 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren, who's celebrating his 100th birthday with his offspring coming from Kansas, California, New Jersey and Arizona.

Bill Kwon can be reached at billkwonrhs@aloha.net.