Ko Olina proved stingy with the last two berths into the Lotte Championship.

The winds that traditionally defend the West Oahu course kicked up over the weekend — even by Ko Olina’s breezy standards — throwing a formidable obstacle in the paths of the 32 entrants in Sunday’s qualifying round of this week’s LPGA Tour stop.

Two tour veterans — Paula Reto and Amelia Lewis — managed to emerge with rounds of even-par 72 to fill the final spots in the 144-player field.

Reto and Lewis will make their sixth straight appearances in the Lotte Championship when the tournament tees off on Wednesday and experience doesn’t hurt when dealing with the wind at Ko Olina Golf Club. Even so, “this is the windiest it’s ever been,” Lewis said after her place in the field was secure.

“If I didn’t play a practice round (Saturday) I would have struggled because I would have been, ‘there’s no way it’s hurting that much or helping that much.’ I hit 4-iron off of 18 tee, I normally hit 3-wood, so it was a big difference,” she said.

“It was tough. Even par, I’m really happy with it.”

After hitting her approach to the fringe on the back of the 18th green, Lewis finished her round by rolling in a 25-foot birdie putt to match Reto and their scores held up over the rest of the day.

Lewis’ tee time kept her from watching Tiger Woods complete his march to the Masters championship. But she played in the 8:22 a.m. group with Cheyenne Woods, Tiger’s niece, and kept track of the results while warming up.

“It was inspiring when we woke up for sure,” Lewis said.

The 31 finishers (one player withdrew during the round) combined for an average of 78 in the hold-on-to-your-hat conditions.

Among the 10 players from Hawaii who entered the qualifier, Kamehameha and Stanford graduate Mari Chun came the closest to playing her way into the field with a 75 to tie for eighth.

Two of the youngest entrants, ‘Iolani’s Kyung Eun Lee and Waiakea’s Lacey Uchida, carded rounds of 81 and the 15-year-old sophomores left Ko Olina appreciative of the experience.

“I learned a lot today. Today wasn’t one of my best days obviously, but I learned a lot being with a lot of accomplished players. Just the mood of the tournament is different,” said Lee, who also played in the Sony Open in Hawaii’s Pro-Junior Challenge in January.

“It’s definitely good to keep in the books for the next time I come here and knowing what to expect.”

Uchida finished her day on a high by dropping a par putt from close to 20 feet on No. 18.

“I learned how to deal with a lot of pressure out there,” she said. “It’s different because you have to work a lot of long clubs rather than just short irons.

“It pushes us to try to come back and to work harder.”

The eighth Lotte Championship opens Wednesday with play starting at 7 a.m Brooke Henderson returns as defending champion and is joined by past winners Cristie Kerr (2017), Minjee Lee (2016), Sei Young Kim (2015) and Michelle Wie (2014).