Punahou School junior Brett Komoto shot a 5-under-par 67 yesterday to take a four-stroke lead after the first round of the Hawai'i State Amateur Stroke Play Championship at Pearl Country Club.

Komoto had six birdies and one bogey, shooting nines of 34-33.

Bradley Shigezawa, Komoto's Buffanblu teammate, and Hunter Larson share second place at 1-under 71.

David Saka, Kazuo Sato, Matthew Ma and TJ Kua are tied for fourth at 72.

Allisen Corpuz, an 11-year-old Punahou sixth-grader, shot 75 and is tied for 11th.

Defending champion Lorens Chan, a 15-year-old 'Iolani sophomore, is tied for 30th at 78.

The second round starts at 6:44 a.m. today after which the field of 86 will be cut to the top 40 for weekend play.

TENNIS

USTA QUALIFIER FOR U.S. OPEN IN JUNE

The USTA has launched the inaugural national qualifier for the U.S. Open. The U.S. Open National Playoffs sectional qualifier in Hawai'i is June 2 to 6 at the Patsy T. Mink CORP Tennis Complex.

The USTA's goal is to connect more people to the U.S. Open and expand its reach to communities across the nation. The playoffs are a series of tournaments that give any person 14 or older, who meets the eligibility requirements, the opportunity to earn a singles wild card entry in the U.S. Open Qualifying Tournament. That will be Aug. 24 to 27 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York.

USTA Sections will run a men's and women's Sectional Qualifying Tournament. Players compete in a single-elimination draw played to the best-of-three tiebreak sets. Players in the draw will not be seeded.

The winner of each men's and women's Sectional Qualifying Tournament will advance to the U.S. Open National Playoffs, held in conjunction with Olympus U.S. Open Series Tournaments this summer. At each U.S. Open Playoff, a maximum of 16 players will compete with the winner receiving a singles wild card entry.

Players can register for the Hawai'i qualifier at www.usopen.org/National_Playoffs/hawaii_pacific.aspx. Entries close May 21.

In other tennis news, the 2011 USTA Pro Circuit's Honolulu Challenger will be Jan. 22 to 30 with a Wild Card tournament Jan. 7 to 9.

For more information, call the USTA/Hawai'i Pacific Section at 585-9534.

SOCCER

HAMM TO APPEAR AT WAIPI'O CAMP

Soccer legend Mia Hamm is partnering with the Blitz Futbol Club for a soccer camp April 6 to 8 at the Waipi'o Peninsula Soccer Complex.

The camp is open for boys and girls, age 7-under to 11-under (2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.) and boys and girls 12-under to 19-under (5 p.m. to 7 p.m.).

The camp costs $150 and the registration deadline is March 27.

For more information, go to www.blitzsoccerhawaii.com.