Just when the PGA Tour thought its Sony Open in Hawai'i had been keiki-proofed, Lorens Chan came along yesterday with a late flurry of birdies to earn a tee time with the pros at his home course.

Chan, an 'Iolani freshman who turned 14 in May, is six months older than Michelle Wie was when she missed the Sony cut by a shot four years ago; Wie is the youngest in history to play in a tour event. Chan is two years younger than Tadd Fujikawa was in 2006 when he became the second-youngest in history to make a tour cut, and finished 20th.

Chan will be Hawai'i's little big man when Sony starts Jan. 15 at Waialae Country Club. He birdied three of the final five holes to fire a 5-under-par 67, then coolly drained a 6-foot birdie on the first playoff hole to win the amateur slot given by Friends of Hawai'i Charities.

That putt — and his gutsy 114-yard approach shot from the right rough with his ball buried on a slope surrounding a palm tree — took out two state amateur champions in the process.

"I was just afraid I might push it. I did everything I could to keep it left," Chan said of the approach. "I still pushed it, but it was OK. I was just praying and telling myself relax and calm down and it helped a lot."

Chan, reigning Manoa Cup champion Alex Ching and two-time Manoa Cup champion Travis Toyama all fired 67s on a breezy day at Waialae. The next-best score among the other nine amateurs was 73, by Hilo's Chris Igawa and 'Iolani senior David Fink.

Toyama, who finished his University of Hawai'i eligibility last spring and plans to turn pro for February's Hawai'i Pearl Open, blew by all of them early with a 67 that might have been the worst he could have shot. The youngest Manoa Cup champion in history hit all 19 greens in regulation with a swing so solid bogey was never an option.

But ... "I burned the lip on almost every birdie putt," said Toyama, who missed a 12-footer on the playoff hole, then couldn't bear to watch Chan.

Ching and Chan were far, far away most of the day, in the fourth and final group. They were going at it in a grinning, hand-slapping shootout that brought out the best in their precocious games, with an emphasis on their superb touch around the greens. Chan one-putted his final six holes while Ching saved par three times in the final six holes of regulation.

"I didn't mess up at all. I thought I played a pretty solid round," said Ching, whose one bad swing came off the tee on the playoff hole (No. 1), when he pulled his drive into the palm trees along the 18th and had to chip back to the fairway. "Lorens and Travis played solid rounds, too. It was tough.

"Lorens is a great player. He deserves this. ... He's going to tear it up at the Sony."

Both eagled the par-5 ninth hole, Chan dropping a 40-foot putt and Ching chipping in from behind the green to cover it. Ching, who is in his freshman season at the University of San Diego, added four birdies and a bogey while Chan had five birdies and two bogeys.

Ching then birdied Nos. 10 and 12 to tie Toyama at 4-under. The reigning state high school champion pulled ahead with a four-foot birdie putt on the par-3 16th.

Toyama matched that with birdie at the 18th. Chan hit it to 2 feet on the 14th, matched Ching's birdie two holes later from 10 feet and blasted 230 yards from the right rough to the 18th green to tie for the lead with a two-putt birdie.

A year ago, Ching won a place in the Sony when he captured another three-way playoff, holding off Maui's Taeksoo Kim, then 16, and Ching, who missed a 4-foot par putt to get eliminated on the second playoff hole.

That round was played in a brutal wind on a very wet course that played harder than what the pros saw a few weeks later. Ching, Kim and Chan reached the playoff with rounds of 75. The 14-year-old, who has been golfing half his life, said that memory helped him yesterday.

Chan figures this golf accomplishment "ties for No. 1" with becoming the youngest qualifier at this year's U.S. Amateur.

"Those two are pretty good," said Chan, who reached the Manoa Cup semifinals this summer. "But the way I played, I like this one better. The results are probably the same."

He plans to follow Ching's advice when he plays with the pros.

"Enjoy the experience," Ching said. "Simply enjoy every minute of it. It's one of the greatest ... for a kid golfer to go out there and have a chance to play with the pros, just walk inside the ropes, it's an amazing feeling. He should enjoy all of it."