HONOLULU – The University of Hawai'i men's golf team will kick off the spring season by competing in the 34^th Amer Ari Intercollegiate which runs Thursday, Feb. 6 through Saturday, Feb. 8 at the Mauna Lani Resort Golf Club.
 
The Rainbow Warriors and Hawai'i-Hilo are co-hosts of the event which is traditionally considered one of the top collegiate tournaments in the country and opens the spring season.
 
This year's field features nine teams nationally ranked in the Top 25, including six of the Top 10 – No. 2 Arizona State, No. 3 Auburn, No. 5 Texas, No. 6 North Carolina, No. 9 Oklahoma State, and No. 10 UCLA. In addition, other Top 25 teams include No. 13 Georgia Tech, No. 19 Pepperdine, and No. 21 Texas Tech.
 
Making up the rest of the field includes No. 38 Oregon, No. 42 Stanford, No. 50 Pacific, No. 67 San Jose State, No. 69 Oregon State, Washington, UC Davis and Japan teams Osaka Gakuin and Waseda.
 
In addition, 24 individuals are ranked in the Top 100, including No. 1 Daniel Bennett (Texas), No. 2 David Ford (North Carolina), No. 3 Josele Ballester (Arizona State), No. 6 Christiaan Maas (Texas), No. 7 Tommy Morrison (Texas) and No. 10 Connor Williams (Arizona State) along with reigning individual NCAA champ No. 97 Hiroshi Tai (Georgia Tech).
 
The tournament will be played at Mauna Lani Resort for the second straight year after spending the three years at Hāpuna Golf Course in Waimea. The teams will play the 6,913-yard, par-72 North Course over 54 holes and three days with a 7:30 a.m., shotgun start each day. 
 
The tournament is UH's fifth event of the 2024-25 season. Hawai'i enters the tournament ranked No. 183 nationally with a scoring average of 289.3 per round. Tyler Ogawa leads the team with a 72.00 scoring average and a team-best eight rounds under par, including four in the 60s.  He was the team leader in three of the four fall tournaments.
 
Hawai'i placed 17^th in last year's Amer Ari Intercollegiate with a 16-under 848 total led by Josh Hayashida who finished at 4-under 212 and a tie for 71^st place. Ogawa finished 1-over 217.
 
The tournament began in 1991 as the Taylor Made Big Island Intercollegiate before being renamed the Amer Ari Intercollegiate in 2010 after a longtime UH-Hilo supporter. Six teams and four golfers won both the Ameri Ari and NCAA Championship in the same year.
 
Tournament #5
What: Amer Ari Intercollegiate
Dates: Thursday, Feb. 6 through Saturday, Feb. 8
Course: Mauna Lani Resort
Location: Kohala Coast, Hawai'i
Yardage (Par): 6,913 yards (72) 
Format: Three-days; 54 holes (18 each day); 5-count-4
Host: Hawai'i-Hilo, Hawai'i
Field (20 teams): Arizona State, Auburn, Georgia Tech, Hawai'i, Hawai'i-Hilo, North Carolina, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Oregon State, Osaka Gakuin (Japan), Pacific, Pepperdine, San Jose State, Stanford, Texas, Texas Tech, UC Davis, UCLA, Waseda (Japan), Washington
Live Scoring: www.scoreboard.clippd.com