Brianna Do and Haru Nomura qualify for Lotte Championship

Brianna Do and Haru Nomura passed their first test at Hoakalei Country Club on Sunday to earn an invitation back on Wednesday.

Both have considerable experience in the Lotte Championship, but played their first competitive rounds at Hoakalei — the tournament’s second new site in as many years — in the Sunday qualifier. They carded rounds of 3-under-par 69 to earn the final two spots in the 144-player field for the LPGA Tour’s Hawaii stop.

Nomura, a three-time winner on tour, will make her eighth start in the event in the first round on Wednesday and had two top-10 finishes during the tournament’s eight-year stay at Ko Olina Golf Club. Do is in the field for the sixth time a year after going 9 under when the tournament moved to Kapolei Golf Club.

Hoakalei was officially announced as this year’s host course last month and Do and Nomura navigated through the brisk winds in Ewa Beach and around the water hazards on the Ernie Els-designed layout in Sunday’s 27-player qualifier.

“Kapolei is definitely a different course, it’s a little wider,” Do said. “Here you have to hit more targets with the fairways being a little more narrow with the bunkers, and the greens are little trickier. But the course is in great shape and I’m looking forward to playing it the rest of the week.”

Do has played in three events on the Epson Tour this season and is coming off of a tie for fourth at the Casino Del Sol Golf Classic two weeks ago in Tucson, Ariz.

“My game’s in a good spot and just want to run with the momentum and keep it going,” Do said.

She opened last year’s tournament with rounds of 68 and 66 at Kapolei and credited “the chill vibes” for her comfort playing in Hawaii. Although her closest tie to the islands is having played college golf with Punahou alumna Stephanie Kono at UCLA, “I always get mistaken for a local,” she said. “They’re like, ‘where on the island do you live?’ I’m like actually I’m from California.”

Nomura said she enjoys playing in wind and was pleased with her play off the tee and on the greens amid Sunday’s challenging conditions. She tied for seventh in her Lotte Championship debut in 2014 and tied for ninth in 2019, the tournament’s last appearance at Ko Olina.

“I think this course is more hard than Ko Olina and Kapolei,” she said. “More wind and much longer and the reading (the greens) is a little bit difficult.”

Brittany Fan posted the highest finish among the entrants with Hawaii ties with a 73. She closed her round by rolling in a putt from off the 18th green. Kara Kaneshiro, a Kalani junior who won the state amateur match-play championship in March, shot a 75 to tie for 10th.

The 10th Lotte Championship runs Wednesday to Saturday. Defending champion Lydia Ko, the world’s third-ranked player, headlines the field. Two-time champion Brooke Henderson (2018, ’19) also returns along with 2017 winner Cristie Kerr. The field also features No. 6 Inbee Park, No. 7 Danielle Kang, No. 11 Nasa Hataoka and No. 12 Yuka Saso.

Punahou graduate Allisen Corpuz is the lone Hawaii player in the field.