Utah Golf Opens Spring Slate at Amer Ari Invitational

Thursday, February 7

Waikoloa, HI

All Day

University of Utah

Amer Ari Invitational

Utah Golf Opens Spring Slate at Amer Ari Invitational

2/4/2019 2:32 PM | Men's Golf

Utes head to Hawaii for first event of the spring schedule.

Utah Men's Golf at the Amer Ari Invitational
DATE: Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 7-9, 2019
LOCATION: Waikoloa Kings Course | Waikoloa, Hawaii.
PAR/YARDAGE: Par 72 / 7,074 yards
LIVE SCORING: GolfStat.com
WEEKLY NOTES: Utah Men's Golf Notes

THIS WEEK
The Utah men's golf team is set to open the 2019 spring season at the Amer Ari Invitational in Waikoloa, Hawaii. The three-day event, hosted by Hawaii and UH-Hilo, will run Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 7-9. The spring opener for the Utes will be played at the par-72, 7,074-yard Waikoloa Kings Course.

THE FIELD
In addition to Utah, the field of 18 includes: Auburn, Colorado, Georgia Tech, Hawaii, UH-Hilo, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Oregon State, Osaka Gakuin (Japan), Pacific, San Jose State, Stanford, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech, UC Davis, and USC.

UTES COMPETING
Six Utes traveled to Hawaii and will participate in the three-day event. The Utes competing are; senior Kyler Dunkle, juniors Jordan Costello and Mitchell Schow, sophomores Blake Tomlinson and Tristan Mandur, as well as freshman Axel Einarsson. Utah will have a five-man team competing for the team score, while having one individual compete in the tournament.

TOURNAMENT DETAILS
The 54-hole event will be played with tee times that will begin at 7:30 a.m. HT each day of the tournament with 18 holes to be played each day in a shotgun start format. Live scoring for the Amer Ari Invitational can be found at www.GolfStat.com.

FLASHBACK TO FALL
The Utes picked up a tournament title in the Showdown in the Rockies after being led by Dunkle who tabbed the event's individual title following three straight rounds under par to finish at 13-under par. The event win was the second under head coach Garrett Clegg after the Utah men's golf team had gone without a team win since 2009. This was Clegg's eighth team title as a head coach after totaling six during his five years at Washington State.

The next weekend at the Mark Simpson Invitational, Dunkle won his third career individual title to become Utah's most winning golfer in school history after finishing tied for first place at 9-under par and then going on to win the playoff hole. Utah's five-man team also went on to finish second overall in the event.

Costello, Mandur, and Schow all recorded top-10 finishes during the fall campaign to highlight the Ute performances. Schow placed fifth at the Showdown in the Rockies, competing as an individual, to record his first top-10 finish since his freshman year. Costello also had his best finish at Utah's event where he placed tied for ninth overall, while also finishing the fall second in scoring average on the team behind Dunkle. Competing as an individual, Mandur tabbed ninth place at the Mark Simpson Invitational. Axel Einarsson also saw action in all five fall events as a true freshman.

OFFSEASON UPDATE
Almost all of the Utes competed in at least one event during the winter season, if not more. Senior Kyler Dunkle saw action in the South Beach International Amateur and Coral Canyon Amateur. Dunkle finished in 10^th place at the South Beach Am and would go on to win the Coral Canyon Am after rounds of 66 and 67 to finish 11-under par.

Sophomore Tristan Mandur also had a great outing in late January, finishing second overall in the St. George Amateur after finishing the event tied for first place at 9-under par before losing the second playoff hole.

"This hasn't been the best winter in Salt Lake for the golfers, but we have made the best of our situations and gotten a lot of range time in," said Clegg. "Overall, it has been good to get some practice in the past couple of weeks. The guys have been playing solid golf. We have some rust still, but we are working that out. We played a couple of rounds in St. George this past weekend and it was great to get some work done!"

UP NEXT
The Utes will head west to compete in The Prestige at PGA West. The event will run Monday, Feb. 18, through Wednesday, Feb. 20, at Greg Norman Course in La Quinta, Calif.