Evan Kawai had to travel a long way to earn a spot in his hometown Sony Open at Waialae Country Club

Evan Kawai’s rush-hour daydreams become reality today.

On his morning commute out of East Oahu, Kawai often glanced to his left, envisioning his opportunity to put a divot into the fairway or roll a putt along one of Waialae Country Club’s manicured greens beckoning from the other side of the highway.

“Every time I’d get off Kalanianaole onto the freeway I would always look over at Waialae No. 15,” Kawai said.

“I always drove past, and I was always like, ‘I’ve gotta make it into the Sony Open.’”

This week, he’ll instead take the Kilauea Avenue exit, make a left at the light and wind his way to the end of Kahala Avenue where he’ll indeed check in for a tee time in the Sony Open in Hawaii.

Kawai, a Punahou graduate and current member of the University of San Diego golf team, earned a spot in the field of 144 by winning the Hawaii State Golf Association’s qualifier for the exemption annually reserved for a local amateur and tees off at 1:40 p.m. today in his first PGA Tour event.

“When I first qualified it didn’t really register,” Kawai said. “In the past week or so it’s been really hitting me that I’m playing in a PGA Tour event.

“Something that (San Diego coach and former tour pro Chris Riley) said was playing on tour was always a privilege. He never took anything for granted, so that’s kind of my mind-set going into this week. I’m just going to take it shot-by-shot out there. I worked hard for this, trained really hard and just going to stick to the process and do what I do.”

Today’s opening round probably won’t be exactly what Kawai pictured, with no spectators allowed on the course due to the pandemic. Nonetheless, he’ll step into the tee box as the lone amateur in the tour’s first full-field event of 2021 and one of three entrants with Hawaii ties.

Parker McLachlin returns for his 11th appearance and tees off at 7:30 a.m. Eric Dugas of Makena Golf and Beach Club on Maui earned a spot in the field for the sixth time and the fourth straight year by winning the Aloha Section PGA’s qualifier at Kapolei Golf Club in December and starts at 9 a.m.

McLachlin, also a Punahou alum, made his Sony debut in 2000 by claiming the HSGA’s amateur qualifier, the same route Kawai took as his opportunity this week.

Since edging former Punahou classmate and current San Diego teammate Remington Hirano on the fourth hole of a playoff at Waialae on Nov. 23, Kawai worked with trainer Steve Lee of Peak Performance Athletics to trim down and put on some muscle heading into the tournament.

“I think it’s strong mental training just because there’s times where you really want to quit during those workouts,” Kawai said of the program that included several 6:30 a.m. sessions on the beach. “But to be able to push through that initial point I think is really good because when I go out onto the course I’m able to apply that to my mentality out there, which helps me be persistent when I’m faced with adversity.”

Riley also provided insight on the mental aspect of preparing for a PGA Tour event.

Now in his fourth year at USD, Riley spent 13 years on tour, winning twice, and was a member of the U.S. Ryder Cup team in 2004, when he partnered with Tiger Woods in four-ball. He made 10 starts in the Sony Open, tying for seventh at Waialae in 1999 and 2003 and ninth in 2011 while making eight cuts.

“I just gave him advice to have fun, and this is how you get better,” Riley said in a phone interview. “The experience he’s going to get playing in this is priceless.

“I always wanted to play with the most pressure I could to see how your game performs under the gun. He told me on Tuesday he was kind of nervous, and I said, ‘That’s great. That’s what you practice for, that’s what you want. You want to be uncomfortable.’ So I’m sure he’ll be nervous on that first tee, but he’ll have a good time.”

Kawai trimmed his scoring average at USD from 77.4 as a freshman to 71.8 in the 2019-20 season, good for second on the team.

“It’s not a bombers course, that’s why I did well there every year and enjoyed coming to Honolulu and Waialae,” Riley said.

“There’s no question in my mind that Evan has the best short game on our team. He’s a good ball striker, but his short game sets him apart on our golf team, so I think that’s going to benefit him.”

Rather than shoot for a number, Kawai said his “only goal for the week is really just to have fun with my caddie Carsen (Chun) and just take in the whole experience.”

“I have the luxury of being able to interact with some of the biggest golfers today,” said Kawai, who played a practice round with past Sony champion Fabian Gomez and chatted with Adam Scott early in the week. “It’s cool to see their different personalities and different approaches and their tournament prep. Things like that make the Sony what it is and makes this experience so awesome.”