Hawai'i will have to be happy with one home-grown amateur again this week.

Sacred Hearts junior Ayaka Kaneko was ousted from a qualifying playoff on the first hole yesterday morning at Ko Olina Golf Club. That leaves Hilo's Kimberly Kim, 15, the lone Hawai'i player in this week's Fields Open in Hawa'i. The LPGA's second stop of the year tees off tomorrow.

Kim received an exemption this week and at last week's SBS Open at Turtle Bay, after becoming the youngest U.S. Women's Amateur champion in history last year. She missed the cut last week. She will play this week with Turtle Bay Director of Golf Matt Hall, her former coach, as her caddie.

Kaneko and Stephanie Kono, both 17, received exemptions into Monday's qualifier, and were the only amateurs in the field of 31. Kono shot a 76 and finished in the middle of the pack. Kaneko played the front nine in 3-under par, but closed at 1-under 71 in the dark Monday and fell into a four-way tie for the second and final spot. Lisa Fernandes was medalist at 70.

Kris Tamulis, a 2003 Florida State graduate, birdied the fourth hole of the playoff — the par-5 No. 13 hole — to earn the final qualifying berth. Kaneko bogeyed the first playoff hole (No. 10) to fall out of contention. Minea Blomqvist and Meredith Ward were also in the playoff.

Tamulis played 18 LPGA events last year, earning $62,000. Fernandes, a 2000 Ohio State graduate, has been playing the Duramed Futures Tour since 2001. She finished 24th at last year's LPGA Qualifying to earn non-exempt status.

Meena Lee won the inaugural Fields Open last year, beating Seon Hwa Lee in a three-hole playoff. Seon Hwa Lee went on win the ShopRite LPGA Classic and more than $900,000, edging Julieta Granada for rookie of the year honors. Meena Lee was second to Paula Creamer — who won last week at Turtle Bay — in the 2005 rookie race. She finished 19th on the money list with $645,000.

Even with all their credentials and final-round brilliance, both Lees were all but lost in Michelle Wie's dust in last year's final round. Wie, then a 16-year-old Punahou junior, fired a final-round 66 and finished a shot out of the playoff.

It was the first of six straight top-five LPGA finishes for Wie. She won $731,000 in eight LPGA events her first season as a pro. She has yet to play an LPGA event in 2007. After missing the cut at the Sony Open in Hawai'i last month, playing with a wrap on an injured right wrist, she fractured her left wrist while training and now has a cast on it. Her only tournament appearance this year at Ko Olina, where she regularly practices, will be in the program. She is featured in a Cup Noodles ad.

Last year, Wie gave the inaugural Fields Open high drama and a great gallery its final day. That followed a disastrous start initiated by the LPGA's decision to make the media sign away ownership of its work to get a credential. It led to a blackout of the first round by both Honolulu newspapers and the Associated Press, leaving Lorena Ochoa with no one to talk to about her record 8-under-par 64 start.

The LPGA relented in the middle of the second round, allowing coverage of the final two days. It later re-worked its credentials to put it in line with other sports organizations.

Eight-time LPGA Player of the Year Annika Sorenstam, who finished third on last year's money list, is the only golfer from the top 25 not playing at Ko Olina this week. Ochoa and Karrie Webb, 1-2 on the money list and top-5 last week at Turtle Bay, are back along with Creamer, Granada, Ai Miyazato and LPGA Hall of Famer Juli Inkster.

Hawai'i 16-year-old Tadd Fujikawa will play in the pro-am this afternoon (1 p.m.) after receiving an invitation from Fields Corporation President Hidetoshi Yamamoto. Fields, of Tokyo, is involved in the planning and development of pachinko/pachislot machines.

FIELDS OPEN STARTING TIMES

PRO-AM
Today
7:30 a.m.—Paula Creamer, Wendy Ward, Young Kim, Il Mi Chung, Shinobu Moromizato, Hiromi Mogi, Se Ri Pak, Meena Lee, Lorena Ochoa, Karrie Webb, Shiho Oyama, Ai Miyazato, Liselotte Neumann, Akiko Fukushima, Karine Icher, Stacy Prammanasudh, Suzann Pettersen, Christina Kim, Heather Young, Diana D'Alessio, Mi Hyun Kim, Laura Diaz, Brittany Lang, Jee Young Lee, Aree Song, Hee-Won Han.
1 p.m.—Riko Higashio, Sakura Yokomine, Momoko Ueda, Maria Hjorth, Natalie Gulbis, Morgan Pressel, Cristie Kerr, Laura Davies, Brittany Lincicome, Julieta Granada, Juli Inkster, Rachel Hetherington, Lindsey Wright, Pat Hurst, Nicole Castrale, Jeong Jang, Gloria Park, Lorie Kane, Michele Redman, Joo Mi Kim, Candie Kung, Seon Hwa Lee, Sophie Gustafson, Sherri Steinhauer, Angela Stanford, Patricia Meunier-Lebouc.
Alternates: 7:15-9 a.m.—Kyeong Bae, Young Jo, S. Cavalleri, T. Hanson. 9:01-10:45—H. Alfredsson, Sun Young Yoo, T. Barrett. 10:46 a.m.-12:30 p.m.—Sarah Lee, K. Saiki-Maloney, S. Turner. 12:31-2:15—N. Scranton, M. Baena, B. Morgan, Amy Hung. 2:16-4—R. Rankin, C. Koch. 4:01-5:45—M. Hart, Young-A Yang.

FIRST ROUND
Tomorrow
First Tee
7:15 a.m.—Reiley Rankin, Virada Nirapathpongporn, Sarah Lynn Sargent. 7:25—Wendy Doolan, Laurie Rinker, Dorothy Delasin. 7:35—Beth Bader, Kelli Kuehne, Becky Morgan. 7:45—Janice Moodie, Lee Ann Walker-Cooper, Maru Matinez. 7:55—Ji-Young Oh, Jamie Hullett, Hee-Young Park. 8:05—Paige Mackenzie, Vicki Goetze-Ackerman, Angela Park. 8:15—Candy Hannemann, Hiromi Mogi, Silvia Cavalleri. 8:25—Carin Koch, Wendy Ward, Young Kim. 8:35—Sophie Gustafson, Rachel Hetherington, Lorie Kane. 8:45—Diana D'Alessio, Danielle Ammaccapane, Helen Alfredsson. 8:55—Jeong Jang, Aree Song, Marla Hjorth. 9:05—Christa Johnson, Candie Kung, Jimin Kang. 11:45—Patricia Meunier-Lebouc, Juli Inkster, Laura Davies. 11:55—Julieta Granada, Natalie Gulbis, Morgan Pressel. 12:05 p.m.—Se Ri Pak, Christina Kim, Cristie Kerr. 12:15—Brittany Lang, Mi Hyun Kim, Hee-Won Han. 12:25—Nicole Perrot, Pat Hurst, Lindsey Wright. 12:35—Amy Hung, Ashley Hoogland, Kimberly Kim (a). 12:45—Moira Dunn, Kim Saiki-Maloney, Jackie Gallagher-Smith. 12:55—Akiko Fukushima, Sae-Hee Son, Katherine Hull. 1:05—Young Jo, A.J. Eathorne, Soo Young Moon. 1:15—Marcy Hart, Erica Blasberg, Kristy McPherson. 1:25—Jill McGill, Jin Joo Hong, Heather Daly-Donofrio.

10th TEE
7:15 a.m.—Charlotte Mayorkas, Cindy Rarick, Katie Futcher. 7:25—Christi Cano, Lisa Fernandes, Michelle Ellis. 7:35—In-Bee Park, Nadina Light, Michelle McGann. 7:45—Kimberly Hall, Allison Hanna-Williams, Karin Sjodin. 7:55—Tracy Hanson, Alena Sharp, Mikaela Parmlid. 8:05—Clarissa Childs, Becky Iverson, Meaghan Francella. 8:15–Mhairi McKay, Sherri Turner, Hye Jung Choi. 8:25—Brittany Lincicome, Shiho Oyama, Lorena Ochoa. 8:35—Laura Diaz, Sakura Yokomine, Paula Creamer. 8:45—Ai Miyazato, Meena Lee, Karrie Webb. 8:55—Nicole Castrale, Soo-Yun Kang, Jee Young Lee. 9:05—Il Mi Chung, Sherri Steinhauer, Liselotte Neumann. 11:45—Karine Icher, Kyeong Bae, Jennifer Rosales. 11:55—Stacy Prammanasudh, Heather Young, Nancy Scranton. 12:05 p.m.—Seon Hwa Lee, Marisa Baena, Gloria Park. 12:15—Michele Redman, Birdie Kim, Angela Stanford. 12:25—Suzann Pettersen, Joo Mi Kim, Dawn Coe-Jones. 12:35—Nina Reis, Sarah Lee, Riko Higashio. 12:45—Glulia Sergas, Shinobu Moramizato, In-Kyung Kim. 12:55—Leta Lindley, Carri Wood, Kris Tamulis. 1:05—Momoko Ueda, Tina Barrett, Aram Cho. 1:15—Johanna Head, Na Ri Kim, Young-A Yang. 1:25—Sun Young Yoo, Irene Cho, Song-Hee Kim.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.