Alex Ching, the hottest Hawai'i golfer of the summer, will defend his title at the 45th annual Oahu Country Club Men's Invitational. The 54-hole tournament tees off this morning and ends Saturday. It features 55 players in the Open Division and 40 more in the Senior Division (55-older).

Ching, this year's state high school champion, will leave for his freshman year at University of San Diego on Sunday. He won on his home course last year by five shots over Lorens Chan. Ching's three-day total of 11-under-par 202 was a shot off the tournament record, set by Parker McLachlin in 2001.

This summer, Ching won the Hickam and Army invitationals, and the Manoa Cup, the state's amateur match play championship also played at OCC. He is trying to become just the third player to win the Manoa Cup and OCC Invitational in the same year, after Brandan Kop (1998) and Kalua Makalena (1981).

Kop, a four-time Manoa Cup champion, is playing the Invitational again this year as is his uncle, Wendell, who won it in 1986 and '89. Other former Manoa Cup champs in the field are Jonathan Ota, who won the 2004 OCC Invitational, Travis Toyama and Ryan Perez. Sean Maekawa, Matt Ma, David Fink, Kellen Asao, TJ Kua, Spencer Shishido and Joey Sakaue are also playing.

George Yamamoto will defend his Senior title, which he has won four times. The senior field also includes Mervin Matsumoto, who won the senior and open titles in 2003, at age 58.

PATRIOT DAY

Ko Olina will again be the site of Hawai'i's Patriot Day, run in association with the PGA of America and USGA. It will be at Ko Olina on Aug. 30, and celebrated across the U.S., over Labor Day weekend at more than 3,200 public and private golf facilities.

Golfers are asked to donate a minimum of $1 to support Folds of Honor (www.foldsofhonor.org), a legacy foundation designed to provide educational scholarships for dependents and spouses of service members who were either killed or disabled while serving and defending the U.S. Ko Olina is donating $1 for every round played at the course Aug. 30.

In addition to raising funds for Folds of Honor, Ko Olina is hosting a special one-hour golf clinic that day at 10 a.m. It features golf professional Billy Hurley III, a 2004 Naval Academy graduate who is stationed on the Naval destroyer USS Chung-Hoon in Pearl Harbor. Assisting will be the PGA staff of teaching pros from Ko Olina's Academy.

The clinic is free and open to the public with special seating for all active duty personnel, their families and junior golfers.

Two active duty military personnel will win lunch at Roy's Ko Olina that day with Hurley and former commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, retired Adm. Tom Fargo (Ret.), president and CEO of Hawaii Superferry Inc. That will be followed by 18 holes of golf.

Active duty military personnel, with a maximum handicap of 24 for men and 30 for women, can enter the raffle for lunch and golf at Ko Olina and the five military golf courses on O'ahu: Leilehua, Walter J. Nagorski, Kane'ohe Klipper, Navy-Marine and Barbers Point.

Ko Olina is also extending special reduced rates for military personnel throughout September, with $20 off 18-hole green fees and $10 off 9-hole fees.