KAPOLEI — Ayaka Kaneko's roller-coaster round at the Fields Open in Hawai'i qualifying stopped in the dark last night with the Sacred Hearts junior teetering at the top.

Kaneko, 17, shot a 1-under-par 71 playing in the final group at Ko Olina Golf Club. It was good enough to wedge her into a four-way playoff for the final spot this morning. She tees off with pros Minea Blomqvist, Kris Tamulsi and Meredith Ward at 8 a.m. in a sudden-death format. The winner joins medalist Lisa Fernandes (70), who played for Ohio State, along with Hilo amateur Kimberly Kim and 135 pros when the first round of the Fields Open tees off Thursday.

Kaneko's playoff goal is simple: "Birdie the first hole."

Punahou junior Stephanie Kono, the only other amateur in the 31-player qualifier, shot 76.

Kaneko played the front nine in 3-under through winds of up to 35 mph. She sank birdie putts from five feet on the second hole, eight on the fifth and a foot on the ninth, but suffered her first bogey at the 10th. She also bogeyed the 12th and 16th to fall to even-par, but rallied with a 10-foot birdie putt on the 17th.

Kaneko two-putted the 18th hole for par — basically in the dark — to join the playoff. She was interviewed by 10 reporters after her round, many from Japan, where her father Katsumi played professional baseball.

"I had a really good start," Kaneko said, "but back nine I couldn't make any putts."

She had the same problem last week, when she didn't qualify for the SBS Open at Turtle Bay, but "learned a little."

Kaneko's caddie was Hawai'i pro Clark Miyazaki, and she was followed by her coach, Hawai'i Golf Hall of Famer David Ishii.

Kono, Kaneko and Kim, 15, all played in the 2006 U.S. Women's Open. Kim also won the U.S. Amateur last year, while Kaneko and Kono were named Rolex Junior All-Americans.

Kono had close friend Tadd Fujikawa carrying her bag yesterday, but his Sony Open mojo did not wear off.

Kono was chasing after her first swing. Her drive on the 10th (her starting hole) went into the water and she double-bogeyed. She would have just one birdie, draining a 10-footer at No. 14, but suffered three more bogeys.

"Even in the U.S. Open qualifier I did the same thing," said Kono, who qualified for that at Ko Olina. "I guess it's just not my hole. After that I just tried to take it one shot at a time and ... one day you just have to make a putt and I didn't make anything.

"After 10 I knew I had to make birdie so I wasn't tentative anymore and just hit the shots. I was hitting the ball pretty well, but nothing really went in."

"She hit a lot of good putts today," Fujikawa added. "They just didn't drop. It was that kind of day. You've just got to make the best of what you've got."

Fujikawa will play in tomorrow's Pro-Am, teeing off in the afternoon (1 p.m.) wave. He and Kono played before a gallery of some 30 yesterday, including both their families and friends.

"These girls really do rock," Fujikawa said. "They can play. I was watching them hit on the range. They've got a lot of game."

NOTES

Paula Creamer, fresh off her first victory in 19 months Saturday in the SBS Open at Turtle Bay, will join Hall of Famer Juli Inkster and Angela Stanford today for the Fields Open in Hawai'i Junior Golf Exhibition. The clinic will go from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Ko Olina's practice range. Admission is free. For more information, call 676-5300.

The Golf Channel is scheduled to show all three rounds, from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. The final two rounds also will be shown in Japan, on TV Asahi. The Japanese coverage is the reason for the Saturday finish, enabling the network to show it live on the weekend in Japan. Asahi plans to do a feature on Tadd Fujikawa tomorrow.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.