Min Lee’s sense of ease at Ko Olina Golf Club on Sunday traced back to her arrival in Honolulu last Friday.

“When I landed I told my mom it just feels like home,” Lee said.

Lee grew up playing in island conditions in Taiwan and made three previous trips to Hawaii to play in the Lotte Championship. She extended her current stay by firing a round of 6-under-par 66 to earn medalist honors in the tournament’s Sunday qualifier at Ko Olina.

Julieta Granada and Xiyu Lin carded rounds of 68 and Granada’s birdie on their third playoff hole gave her the final spot in the field for the LPGA Tour’s seventh annual visit to West Oahu.

Lee joined the tour in 2015 and her previous best at Ko Olina was a 71 in the second round in 2016 and last year’s opening round before missing the cut. She made 11 cuts on tour last year and Sunday’s 66 secured her first start of the season when the tournament tees off Wednesday.

“That really means a lot to me because I’ve been struggling a little bit last year,” she said, “so I’m just trying to do something new, something different to see how to improve myself.

“I have a different mind-set today, so it really helped me a lot and I don’t feel too much pressure on myself … more focusing on enjoying the golf.”

Seven birdies made for quite an enjoyable round and Lee credited her iron play for setting up her opportunities on a relatively calm, overcast day on the west side.

The 23-player qualifier included nine local entrants, and ‘Iolani and Pepperdine graduate Marissa Chow finished one shot out of the playoff with a 3-under 69.

Chow made seven cuts in 11 events in her rookie season on the Symetra Tour last year. She suffered a wrist injury in November, and Sunday’s round represented a positive step into the season.

“This is the best I’ve probably hit the ball in a while,” said Chow, who also coaches with the ‘Iolani varsity team.

“(Her wrist) is in good shape, so I’ve been trying to play almost every day, just trying to sharpen it up. … (Qualifying) may not have happened, but I was still very proud of how I played and how I came back.”

Anna Umemura, one of three amateurs in the qualifier, shot even par 72 and Nicole Sakamoto, a Kalani graduate, and Moanalua grad Kristina Merkle finished at 73.

Sakamoto plans to stay in town for a couple more weeks before heading back to Florida and packing up her Camry to follow the Symetra schedule up the East Coast for the next two months.

“Last year we put on at least 30,000 miles on the car,” she said.

Kaiser senior Malia Nam was among the youngest in the field and shot a 76 in her first appearance in the Lotte qualifier. She’ll get back to the high school season today with a tournament at Leilehua.

“It was a really good experience to play with other pros,” Nam said. “It’s a possible career choice, so it’s just good to see where I stand.”