Utah Golf Tied for Ninth at Amer Ari Invitational

Thursday, February 7

Waikoloa, HI

All Day

University of Utah

Amer Ari Invitational

Utah Golf Tied for Ninth at Amer Ari Invitational

2/7/2019 5:19 PM | Men's Golf

First Round Results

Three Utes shoot under par to open event.

WAIKOLOA, Hawaii – The Utah men's golf team opened spring play on Thursday morning at the Amer Ari Invitational, where the Utes completed the first round of action at the Waikoloa Kings' Course in Waikoloa, Hawaii.

Utah's five-man team put together a score of 7-under par (281) in the first round of play at the par 72, 7,074-yard course. The Utes head into Friday's second round tied for ninth place in the 18-team field.

"It was awesome to get back competing today!" said Ute head coach Garrett Clegg. "Overall, we did a lot of really good things. Kyler, Blake, and Mitchell all played really solid rounds of golf! We lead the tournament field in eagles, but we did not make enough birdies. Tomorrow to clean things up and move up the leaderboard, we need to play the par-3's better and find a way to make more birdies. Overall though, it was a solid start to the tournament and we are looking forward to competing back out there tomorrow!"

Oklahoma State leads the field after posting a first-round score of 21-under par (267). Texas Tech (-19) finished the day in second place, Oregon (-17) followed in third, while Georgia Tech (-11) and Southern California (-11) sit tied for fourth place. Just ahead of Utah in the team standings, Auburn (-9) and TCU (-9) are tied for sixth, while Colorado (-8) is just one stroke up on Utah in eighth place.

Utah had three golfers finish Thursday's first round under par. Senior Kyler Dunkle notched 4-under par (68) and will head into the second round tied for 12^th overall to lead the Utes. Behind Dunkle, junior Mitchell Schow finished the opening round with an 18-hole score of 3-under par (69) and is tied for 20^th place. Also finishing under par was sophomore Blake Tomlinson after shooting 2-under par (70). Tomlinson is currently tied for 30^th place.

Sophomore Tristan Mandur went 2-over par (74) in the first round and is tied for 77^th overall. Junior Jordan Costello recorded 3-over par (75) on the opening day to sit tied for 88^th place in the three-day event.

Playing as an individual in the Amer Ari Invitational, freshman Axel Einarsson finished Thursday with a first-round score of 1-over par (73) and is tied for 65^th place.

Utah totaled four eagles during the first round of play to lead the 18-team field. Dunkle notched two eagles during his round, while Schow and Tomlinson each tabbed one of their own. Utah also finished second in pars recorded in the first 18 holes of play, but as Clegg stated, struggled to earn birdies during the first round only recording 13 total.

The Utes will have a chance to climb the leaderboard beginning Friday morning at 7:30 a.m. HT (10:30 a.m. MT) when the Utes tee off in a shotgun start format to begin the second round of play. Utah will be paired with golfers from Texas, San Jose State, and Oregon State. Live results can be found at GolfStat.com.