Birdies remain plentiful at Amer Ari Invitational
Baard Skogen (courtesy of Texas Tech Athletics)
Welcome to the 2022 Amer Ari Invitational, where birdies are as plentiful as the rolling hills, stunning vistas, beautiful clear skies and white sand beaches found on the Big Island's northern coast.
After two rounds, Texas Tech and Arizona State seem to be enjoying themselves the most at the Hapuna Golf Course in Waimea, as the Red Raiders and Sun Devils are a combined 71-under par and are separated by just one stroke heading into Saturday's final round.
Behind a career-low round of 65 by individual leader
Baard Skogen, the Red Raiders, ranked 25th by Golfweek/Sagarin, carded a 21-under score of 267 on Friday to move to 36-under for the tournament, good for a one-stroke lead over the top-ranked Sun Devils at 35-under 541. Washington is also keeping pace at 30-under 546 followed by Pepperdine (-28) and Oklahoma State (-26).
The Red Raider's 21-under score of 267 was one shy of the program record for the lowest round in program history behind only a 266 in the third round of the 2015 Amer Ari.
In addition to Skogen's 7-under round, Texas Tech also counted a pair of 67s from AmateurGolf.com's 2021 Player of the Year
Ludvig Aberg and
Garrett Martin, a 68 from
Calum Scott and had the luxury of tossing out a 3-under 69 from
Andy Lopez.
Skogen, who had eight birdies against just one bogey on his Friday card, moved to 13-under 131 at the 36-hole mark of the tournament and will take a two-stroke lead over Arizona State's
Preston Summerhays into Saturday's final round.
North Carolina freshman
David Ford turned in the lowest round of the day with an 8-under 64 to jump 29 spots up the leaderboard into a tie for third place with Pepperdine's
Dylan Menante, Washington's
R.J. Manke, Auburn's
Austin Coggin and ASU's
Mason Andersen.
After opening his round with a bogey, Ford made nine birdies in a 12-hole stretch en route to a second-round 64.
The Amer Ari Invitational concludes tomorrow.
ABOUT THE
The Amer Ari Intercollegiate -- hosted by the
University of Hawaii-Hilo -- has brought some of the best golfers in the nation to the west side of the Big Island annually since its inception in 1992. From Tiger Woods to Jordan Spieth to Matt Kuchar, the Amer Ari Intercollegiate has hosted a myriad of players through the years who have gone on to professional stardom.
The event was originally played at Hapuna Golf Course at Mauna Kea Resort before moving to the Waikoloa Beach Resort. The Amer Ari returned to Hapuna during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2024, the event was moved to Mauna Lani. The Amer Ari is a 54-hole collegiate men's event with individual and team competitions.
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