Hawai'i golf Hall of Famers David Ishii and Dick McClean, and Japanese star Kiyoshi Murota, who represents Turtle Bay, received unrestricted exemptions for the Turtle Bay Championship.

The first full-field event of the season on the Champions Tour will be Jan. 25 to 27 at Turtle Bay's Palmer Course.

Joe Inman received one of the restricted exemptions, with one more to be announced.

Fred Funk will defend his title at Turtle Bay. His 11-shot victory last year also got him an invitation to the MasterCard Championship the previous week (Jan. 18 to 20) at Hualalai on the Big Island. Funk is also planning to play in this week's Mercedes-Benz Championship on Maui and next week's Sony Open in Hawai'i, at Waialae Country Club.

Murota finished second to Funk last year, along with Tom Kite, 2006 champion Loren Roberts, Tom Purtzer and Dennis Watson. Ishii tied for 13th last year at Turtle Bay. Both are former Hawai'i Pearl Open champs.

NOTES

SONY OPEN PRE-QUALIFIER: The Aloha Section PGA will run a Pre-Qualifier for the Sony Open in Hawai'i Qualifier Sunday at Makaha Resort. It is open to all professionals (not PGA or Nationwide tour members) and amateurs with a handicap of 2 or less.

Entrants include Hilo's Greg Meyer, who plays on the Japan tour, 2006 Public Links champion Casey Watabu, former State Open champion Will Yanagisawa, Hawai'i Golf Hall of Famer Stan Souza, former state high school and Pac-10 champion Jim Seki, Manoa Cup champion Kurt Nino and former State Open and state high school champion Jarett Hamamoto.

Ayaka Kaneko, a Sacred Hearts senior ranked fifth nationally in Junior Girls, will also be in the pre-qualifier. Players go out from 7:30 a.m. Sunday.

The top 50 and ties from the pre-qualifying round advance to the Monday Open Qualifier the following day at Makaha. Members of the PGA and Nationwide tours and any player with 150 career combined cuts on the PGA and Nationwide tours are exempt into Open Qualifying. The top four Monday qualify for Sony, which will be Jan. 10 to 13 at Waialae Country Club.

MCLACHLIN AUTOGRAPHS: Punahou graduate and second-year PGA Tour pro Parker McLachlin will sign autographs Sunday from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Tapa Concourse near the Tapa Bar of the Hilton Hawaiian Village.

The "official resort sponsor" of the Sony Open in Hawai'i will also have a Putt for Prizes contest Monday, Wednesday and Friday (9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.) at the Tapa Sales Gallery. Golf pros from Luana Hills will provide free golf tips Tuesday and Thursday, at the same site, from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Sony Open tickets can be purchased at the American Express Desk on the Tapa Concourse, and at Village Golf & Logo Shop in the Rainbow Bazaar at the Hilton. The resort will also offer round-trip shuttle service to the tournament from its bus depot every half hour beginning at 7 a.m. Cost is $2 each way.

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