Yesterday's qualifier for the Sony Open in Hawai'i was suspended because of inclement weather and will continue this morning at the Makaha Resort Golf Club.

Play will resume at 7:30 a.m. at the 7,077-yard, par-72 Makaha (West) course.

Only 15 of the 74 golfers completed their rounds yesterday. Play was first suspended in the early afternoon because of lightning and later postponed at 2:15 p.m.

"Hopefully we can finish by noon (today) because there's supposed to be another (storm) system coming in," said Mickey Bradley, PGA Tour Tournament Rules Official. "The last group was on hole No. 4."

If the qualifier is unable to finish by today it can be pushed to tomorrow, he said.

The four players with the lowest scorers will qualify for this week's Sony Open in Hawai'i, which starts Thursday at Waialae Country Club. The Sony field already includes eight of the top 10 from last year's money list.

Hilo's Ryan Masuda, 24, posted the lowest score at 3-under-par 69 before play was halted yesterday. Next were Norman-Ganin Asao (72), Se Woong Park (72) and Gregory Ono (74).

"I played OK," Masuda said. "I had it down to 5-under, but I kind of fell apart at the end. It could have been better."

Masuda said qualifying will be tough with many strong players in the field.

"I think 69 is kind of pushing it," he said. "I think it needed to be a couple of shots lower, but you never know."

The qualifying is made up of local pros and amateurs, PGA and Nationwide tour players and golfers from Canada, Japan, South Korea and Australia.

The qualifier — held at the Pearl Country Club in the past — was moved to Makaha Resort Golf Club for the first time because of economic reasons, according to Paul Sugimoto, Executive Director of the Aloha Section PGA. It is scheduled to be held at Makaha for two more years.

Reach Brandon Masuoka at bmasuoka@honoluluadvertiser.com.