Back in its late-October corner is the Aloha Section PGA’s Pro-Scratch tournament, now sponsored by Golf Concepts.

It might not be bigger or better, and Tuesday it certainly was not dryer, but the only-in-Hawaii tournament format remains as comfortable today as it was in its 2001 debut.

Bridgestone Golf’s Del-Marc Fujita introduced Pro-Scratch and nurtured it for its first 15 years, after figuring the format with Golf Concepts’ Jay Hinazumi. It teams local pros with amateur friends, family and folks who work in the game, who play without a handicap.

Day 1 is a scramble and scores go low, with few exceptions. Day 2, which was canceled because of the downpour at Leilehua Tuesday, gets a bit more serious with a best-ball format.

The local PGA section’s last Pro-Scratch in 2015 was won by pro Corey Kozuma and then-Moanalua senior Shawn Lu, with a record-tying 23-under 121. The 44-team field filled up in 12 minutes.

Pro Jared Sawada, who made the cut at the Sony Open in Hawaii last year, and 2017 Manoa Cup champion Andy Okita were declared the winners in this week’s return. They were at 15-under 57 Monday, four shots ahead of three other teams.

But numbers are only a small part of Pro-Scratch, which Hinazumi describes with words such as camaraderie, celebration and fun.

He appreciates the precise, technical focus of today’s game, but wants the next generation to feel what it’s like to get dropped off at Ala Wai with friends and work on your games together simply by saying “Try look at my swing.” That’s what he and David Ishii and Wendell Tom did as kids.

“We are getting together in a semi-social environment where we get to spend time with people passionate about the sport,” says Hinazumi, the Hawaii State Golf Association president. “For me, it’s more like a reunion. I don’t see Casey (Nakama), Mark and Philip Chun, Lenny Sakata, Guy Yamamoto — the list goes on and on — very often. Almost the whole field was involved in amateur golf or still is. Some grew up as amateurs and became professionals at local clubs. It’s fun to have a reunion and reminisce and talk a little golf.”

It can be enlightening. Monday, Baldwin and University of Oregon alum Cassy Isagawa shot 62 with amateur partner Makana Eleneki, who works with her at Wailea Resort. It was Isagawa’s Aloha Section PGA debut.

“I’m not fully comfortable playing individual tournaments yet,” says Isagawa, a pro who came home to help her family when her mother got sick and is planning to try LPGA Q-School again next year. “I thought it could be a small stepping stone for me and Makana. He hadn’t played a tournament in six years.”

Isagawa, one of junior golf’s most passionate players back in the day, was burnt out after college. Coming home and working at Wailea has helped her “fully enjoy” the game again.

What she found at Pro-Scratch were lots of old friends who felt the same.

“I knew a lot of people there,” Isagawa said. “It was refreshing to see everyone I’d met through the years in golf. I saw Cyd (Okino), who I hadn’t seen since our college golf days in 2015. It was very nice having another woman golfer as well. It’s a nice, warm feeling-type experience. But I could see that even if you were someone who did not know all these people you would still be comfortable.”

She and Eleneki tied for fifth with two-time champs Kevin Hayashi and Elton Tanaka at 62. Nakama and Tropic Fish Hawaii President/CEO Shawn Tanoue shot 64 while Okino and Shawn’s brother Shannon — a Tropic Fish VP — were another shot back.

Okino is also on her way back to Q-School, in Japan, next year. She missed by one shot this year and is happy to be working on her game at home, and working at Nakama’s Golf Development Center.

Nakama and Okino, who has a sponsor in Japan, are happy with what they see technically in her golf game. Both are now emphasizing what happens above the neck.

“She’s just got to play better at the right time,” he says simply.

Okino is working with a meditation specialist to help relax on the course and in a new culture where she has become much more aware of what goes on around her.

“It’s just believing in myself and not being afraid to hit the ball,” Okino says. “Casey says when I hit bad shots I’m just not committing.”

She has committed to another year in Japan, and this week she and Nakama and Isagawa and pretty much everyone on the 32 teams remembered why they committed to the sport that brought them together so long ago. Golf and friendship have a lot in common.

“I’ve learned you don’t always have to love golf every single day of your life,” Isagawa says. “It’s like a relationship. It definitely has its ups and downs. There will be days you just need a break because it’s too much, and some days you can’t get enough of it. It’s finding that happy balance of knowing when to keep grinding it out and when to take a break.”