HONOLULU – After a one-year hiatus, the Rainbow Wahine Invitational returns featuring a nine-team field hosted by the University of Hawai'i women's golf team. The tournament will run Oct. 25-27 at Kapolei Golf Club on O'ahu.
 
The tournament, which was cancelled last year due to the pandemic, features five Big West Conference teams including UH, new member Cal State Bakersfield, Cal State Fullerton, CSUN, and UC Irvine. Making up the rest of the field are Baylor, Idaho, Santa Clara, and Tampa.
 
Baylor is the highest ranked team at No. 6 while UH is the next highest at No. 87. Tampa is ranked No. 19 in Division II.

"We are looking forward to hosting a great tournament once again at Kapolei Golf Club," head coach Stephen Bidne said. "We are fortunate that Kapolei is one of our home golf courses, so I feel like we will have an edge going into the event having played and practice there several times leading into the event. The resort style course is quite open and forgiving off the tee, and can produce low scores if the wind is down. We just had a player shoot 67 in qualifying, so birdies and low scores can be made! I'm excited to keep our great momentum of the fall season going, and look forward to having the 'Bows playing well!"
 
Participants will play 18 holes each day at the par-72, 6,208-yard course with tee times off of No. 1 beginning at 9:00 a.m., on Monday and Tuesday. The third and final round will feature split tees off No. 1 and 10 beginning at 9:00 a.m.
 
UH's fall tournament has been traditionally played at Kapolei under various names including the Kent Youel Invitational. The tournament returned to Kapolei in 2018 and '19, which followed a six-year run at Leilehua Golf Course. Kapolei previously hosted the event from 1999-2008 and again in 2011. In between, UH hosted the Turtle Bay Resort College Invitational on the North Shore of O'ahu in 2009 and '10.

Kapolei Golf Club has hosted PGA and LPGA tournaments including the Pacific Links Championship of the PGA Champions Tour from 2012-14 and the LPGA's Hawaiian Ladies Open from 1996-2001. It was also rated as one of Hawai'i's Top 10 courses by GolfAdvisor.com.
 
The tournament is UH's fourth of the fall season and first since the Ron Moore Intercollegiate two weeks ago in Highlands Ranch, Colo., where the Rainbow Wahine tied for seventh. UH won its first two events of the fall – HPU Sharks Shootout and Coeur d'Alene Resort Collegiate Invitational.

Hawai'i's line-up for the tournament includes Hana Mirnik, Hyeonji Kang, Momo Sugiyama, Focus Jonglikit, and Monica Johnson while three Rainbow Wahine will compete as individuals, Ting-Yu Liu, Mayumi Umezu, and Kralyn Salazar.
 
Mirnik of Slovenia leads the team with a 72.6 scoring average while Kang of South Korea is right behind her at 72.7 strokes per round. Sugiyama of Australia has a 73.4 average.
 
Hawai'i concludes the fall season with its annual appearance in the Nanea Pac-12 Preview, Nov. 1-3 on Hawai'i Island. 
    
Tournament #4
Date: Oct. 25-27, 2021
Format: Three-days; 54 holes (18-18-18); 5-count-4
Time: Tee times off of #1 beginning at 9:00am on Monday and Tuesday; Split tees off #1 and #10 beginning at 9:00am on Wednesday
Course: Kapolei Golf Club; Kapolei, O'ahu
Yardage (Par): 6,208 (72)
Live Scoring: www.golfstat.com
Participating Teams (9): Baylor, Cal State Bakersfield, Cal State Fullerton, CSUN, Hawai'i, Idaho, Santa Clara, Tampa, UC Irvine