An eclectic group of 192 men and women will play in the 29th annual Hawai'i Pearl Open, tomorrow through Sunday at Pearl Country Club.

The field includes young (Tadd Fujikawa) and old (Namio Takasu), short (Fujikawa) and tall (Chan Kim), sophomores (Fujikawa) and eighth-graders (Cyd Okino) and Hawai'i's fifth U.S. Public Links champion (Casey Watabu).

Golfers from Japan, the U.S. and Australia tee off tomorrow at 7 a.m. at Pearl Country Club. The tournament is expected to conclude at 3 p.m. Sunday. The low pro gets $12,000.

Even for Pearl, this is a diverse field with exceptional talent.

Fujikawa, 16, became the youngest to make a PGA Tour cut in 50 years at last month's Sony Open in Hawai'i. Fujikawa tied for 20th at Waialae.

Takasu, 64, won the inaugural Hawai'i Pearl Open in 1979. Defending champion is Tomohiro Maruyama, 48. Kiyoshi Murota, still a threat on the Japan Golf Tour Organization at 51, would be here but for the fact he qualified for this week's Champions Tour stop with a runner-up finish at the Turtle Bay Championship.

Nearly half this year's field comes from Japan's pro tour. That includes Tomohiro Kondo (10), Katsumasa Miyamoto (16), Toshinori Muto (17) and Keiichi Fukabori (20), all in the top 20 on the 2006 JGTO money list.

Yuki Ito, 19, will be gunning for his third straight low-amateur title. Ito is one of Japan's best collegiate players and a member of the national team. His success here inspired several Japanese teenagers to come over and try to qualify, including 11-year-old Masamichi Ito.

The success of Michelle Wie, Sakura Yokomine and Maiko Wakabayashi at past Pearl Opens also inspired more women to try and qualify. Okino, who became the youngest Hawai'i State Open women's champion last year, is the only female exempt from qualifying this year.

State high school champion Chan Kim, a high school junior, will also play along with state runner-up Sean Maekawa, a Ho-noka'a senior. Fujikawa was third in the state last year.

Watabu, a 2001 Kaua'i High graduate, beat Anthony Kim in the Publinx final. Watabu graduated from Nevada after winning the 2006 West Regional.

Pearl also has many of the best Hawai'i golfers, including former champions Gregory Meyer, Kevin Hayashi and Lance Suzuki, and Jarett Hamamoto, Matt Kodama, Regan Lee, Joe Phengsavath and Jim Seki.