David Ishii and Beau Yokomoto each shot a 1-under-par 71 yesterday at the Waialae Country Club to qualify for the Sony Open in Hawai'i, the PGA Tour's first 2006 full-field event.

Ishii and Yokomoto will join Kevin Hayashi — exempt as the Aloha Section PGA's player of the year — in the 72-hole tournament next Jan. 12 to 15.

The biggest interest of the day, though, centered on the battle for the one amateur exempt spot among the 12 players of the Governor's Cup amateur team.

It went to Brandan Kop, who sank a 5-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th hole to finish at 72 and avoiding a four-way playoff with Alvin Okada, Shannon Tanoue and Jarett Hamamoto, all with 73s.

Tadd Fujikawa, 14, trying to become the youngest to qualify for the Sony Open or the Hawaiian Open, finished with a 74 despite birdieing the opening hole and pitching in from 30 yards for an eagle-3 at the fourth hole.

"I wish I could putt like you," Fujikawa told Kop, who will be 45 next Monday. They played in the last amateur group along with Travis Toyama, who also shot a 74.

Kop shrugged off a 2-over 38 on the front nine, taking a double-bogey 6 on the fifth hole when he left a shot in the sand trap. He got one back, sinking a 15-footer for birdie at 12.

The par-3 13th, playing 203 yards into the wind, proved the pivotal hole with Kop getting the benefit of a two-shot swing.

Kop hit a hybrid-3 metal wood to within four inches back of the cup for a tap-in birdie. Tanoue, who had been 2-under at that point, and Fujikawa both three-putted the lengthy, undulating green for bogeys.

It's the third time Kop has qualified for the Sony Open and also once qualified for the Hawaiian Open. He has missed the cut in all his previous attempts, but said he feels that he and other Hawai'i amateurs are fortunate in being able to play in a PGA Tour event.

"Where else can an amateur play for a spot in a PGA tournament? It's quite an incentive for us (amateurs)," Kop said.

Fujikawa's game made a believer out of Kop.

"I played with him when he won at Hickam. He's already good but he's going to get better when he gets a little stronger," Kop said of the Moanalua High School freshman.

"It was a good experience. I learned a lot," said Fujikawa, who is looking forward to next spring when he finally can play high school golf.

Ishii, who birdied the second hole in a bogey-free front nine, erased back-to-back bogeys at 13 and 14 by sinking 15-foot birdie putts at 16 and 17 to share medalist honors with Yokomoto in the Aloha Section's member-qualifying.

After winning the 1990 Hawaiian Open, Ishii has played in every Hawai'i PGA Tour event (Hawaiian or Sony) except 2001, missing the cut only twice.

A birdie at the 18th also secured a spot for Yokomoto, 39, a teaching pro at the Pearl Country Club. It's the first Sony Open for Yokomoto, who Monday-qualified for the Hawaiian Open in 1994.