A field of 36, with hopes of following in the fascinating footsteps of Tadd Fujikawa or David Ishii, will play Monday for two spots in next month's Sony Open in Hawai'i. The Aloha Section PGA's Member-Only Qualifying tees off at 7 a.m., with 24 pros playing for one spot at Waialae Country Club. A dozen amateurs follow, from 8:20 a.m., also playing for a single spot.

Last year Fujikawa, then 15, beat everybody with a 5-under-par 67. He went on to make history, becoming the youngest in 50 years to make a PGA Tour cut and finishing 20th. Fujikawa has since turned pro and received an exemption into the 2008 Sony.

This year's amateur field includes 40-something Manoa Cup champions (Brandan Kop and Jonathan Ota), the 2006 state high school champ who now lives in Arizona (Chan Kim) and a couple kids who make Fujikawa look old.

Lorens Chan, a 13-year-old Waialae member, reached the Manoa Cup semifinals this year, won his fourth state junior championship and was second at the Turtle Bay Amateur. Bradley Shigezawa, 15, won at Turtle Bay and was low amateur at the State Open, where he finished fourth overall.

The pro field still gets inspiration from Ishii's Hawaiian Open victory in 1990. The inspiration has been cut from three slots to one by the PGA Tour this year, with the second- and third-place finishers given an exemption into Sony's Monday qualifier.

The only members eligible Monday are winners of events that count toward Player of the Year, members finishing in the top 10 on the final Player of the Year points list and the top five seniors. Last year Abe Mariano and David Chin won the pro qualifier spots, in a playoff over Ishii. Kevin Hayashi earned the third spot as Player of the Year.

Hayashi, also the 2007 Player of the Year, will be trying to qualify Monday. He will play in the final pro group with Kevin Carll and Kirk Nelson, who were second and third on the points list.

Aloha Section will also run the Open Qualifier for the 2008 Sony Open. The pre-qualifier is Jan. 6 and open to all professionals and amateurs with a handicap of 2 or less. The top 50 and ties are eligible for the Monday Open Qualifier the following day. Both will be at Makaha Resort. Entries are available at aloha.pga.com or by calling 593-2230.

The 2008 Sony Open in Hawai'i will be Jan. 10 to 13, following the season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship at Kapalua, Jan. 3 to 6.

SPECIALS AT MAKALEI

Makalei Golf Club announced an e-Club Membership Program that provides special amenities, discounts and activities for members throughout the year.

Benefits for the $50 annual membership include discounts at the golf shop and restaurant and for lessons, special events and golf rates.

For more information, call 325-6625 or see www.makalei.com.

NOTES

Mark Rolfing's next "Golf Hawai'i" show premiers Monday at 7 p.m. on The Golf Channel and will take a look back at 2007. Rolfing will see how the year transpired for some of the show's earlier guests — Jim Furyk, Michelle Wie, Rory Sabbatini and Davis Love III. Rolfing's My View will be about how the PGA Tour and LPGA global landscape is changing. The show re-airs Wednesday at 8:30 a.m and 9 p.m., Dec. 21 at 1 p.m., and Dec. 22 at 8 a.m.

Mike Moynahan, golf clubmaker and owner of Kama'aina Clubmakers in Kamuela, was named one of the Top 10 Clubmakers for 2007-2008 by the Golf Clubmakers Association. It is the second straight year Moynahan has been honored. A panel made up of GCA officials and other golf clubmaking experts selected winners from each state (U.S.), province (Canada) and country (International), who "exemplified the overall best qualities of golf club repair, club fitting and community work."

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