Five names familiar in Hawaii junior golf will join a new title sponsor and five pros for the 2016 Hawaii Tourism Authority Pro-Junior Challenge next month. 

The annual exhibition is played Tuesday (Jan. 12) of Sony Open in Hawaii week, at Waialae Country Club. It begins at 2:45 p.m. and admission is free.

Malia Nam (Kaiser), Zackary Kaneshiro (Mid-Pacific Institute), Allisen Corpuz (Punahou), Kyle Suppa (Punahou) and Kyosuke Hara (Moanalua) were named to participate by the Hawaii State Junior Golf Association.

Format is a three-hole scramble on the 10th, 11th and 18th holes. The event benefits HSJGA. Pros will be named later.

Juniors qualify through an annual, season-long points competition administered by the HSJGA. Nam, a sophomore, and Kaneshiro, a junior, are the HSGA’s 2015 Players of the Year in the 15-18 age division.

Last year, Moanalua’s Shawn Lu won the Challenge with 2013 Sony Open champion Russell Henley. This year, Lu will play in the Sony after winning the amateur qualifier. Last year, Suppa earned that exempt spot and made the cut.

The $5.8 million Sony Open starts Jan. 14 and is the PGA Tour’s first full-field event of the year. Jimmy Walker has won the last two. The tour’s year starts on Maui the previous week, with the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, Jan. 7-10, at Kapalua Plantation.

Also earning 2015 Player of the Year honors from the HSJGA are Joshua Chung and Rachael Wang (7-10), Kelly Chinn and Minny Byun (11-12), and AJ Teraoka, Jennifer Koga and Allysha Mae Mateo (13-14)

Wang, Chung and Mateo captured titles at the Michelle Wie Tournament of Champions earlier this month at Wailea Emerald. Other champions were Kyung Eun Lee and Isaiah Kanno (11-12), Pono Yagi (13-14 boys) and Corpuz and Suppa (15-18).

Wie, a former HSJGA golfer, sponsors the tournament she once won and hosts the event at Wailea. This year, she also donated Nike golf shoes to the champions. Her father, BJ, provided a question-and-answer session for players and parents after the first round.

Honolulu’s Kono earns conditional status

Honolulu’s Stephanie Kono will return to the LPGA tour with conditional status next year after tying for 22nd at the final stage of the Qualifying Tournament earlier this month.

Kono shot rounds of 73-74-71-68-71 to finish at 3-under-par 357 on the LPGA International course in Florida. The top 20 — at 356 — earned full status. She should get into 10-15 events next year.

Kono is a Punahou graduate. Her All-American career at UCLA was cut short when she qualified for the LPGA four years ago. She has played the developmental Symetra Tour the last three years.

Waiakea and Portland State graduate Britney Yada also reached the LPGA’s final stage, but missed the 72-hole cut by two after shooting 75—293. By reaching the final stage, she is eligible to play Symetra again next year. She made five cuts on that tour this year.

Beijing’s Simin Feng went wire-to-wire at Q-School, winning by seven shots at 18-under par. It is the third-lowest score since the LPGA went to a five-round qualifier.

Hawaii’s Eimi Koga (Moanalua) and Cyd Okino (Punahou) are planning to play on the LPGA of Japan’s version of Symetra — the Step-Up Tour — next year.

Koga transferred to Hawaii this fall in part because the University of Washington would not allow her to try to qualify for the Japan tour. The 2011 state high school champ lifted the Wahine to their first team title in nearly 20 years in the fall’s first competition, earning medalist honors at the Hobble Creek Fall Classic.

Koga got through the first three stages of qualifying in Japan, but did not advance at the final stage and earned status on the developmental tour. She turned pro and told Wahine coach Lori Castillo she would not be returning to school.

Okino reached the third stage of qualifying, but did not advance to the final stage, which gave her status on the Step-Up.

UH announced last month that it signed Malia Ebersberger — daughter of former Mauna Kea head pro and Aloha Section PGA President J.D. Ebersberger — to a letter of intent.

Malia was born in Hawaii and was this year’s Northern Ohio PGA Junior Player of the Year. She is two-time all-Desert Valley for Xavier College Prep, in Palm Desert, Calif. She also has a 4.0 GPA.

Hawaii Golf Hall of Famer Kevin Hayashi reached the final stage of Champions Tour qualifying in Arizona, but finished tied for 75th at 7-over 291. The top five got their cards, led by medalist Brandt Jobe at 266.

Punahou graduate Bradley Shigezawa advanced to the the fourth and final stage of Japan Golf Tour Organization qualifying but did not earn playing privileges.

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Ann Miller, Special to the Star-Advertiser