Jan. 31, 2018
By Hector Rios, Auburn Athletics
AUBURN, Ala. - No. 8 Auburn men's golf will start the spring portion of the 2017-18 season Feb. 1-3 at the Amer Ari Invitational, hosted by Hawaii-Hilo at the Kings' Course at the Waikoloa Beach Resort in Waikoloa, Hawaii.
"The Amer Ari Invitational is another opportunity to prove that we are one of the best teams in the nation," Auburn head coach Nick Clinard said. "The field is full of great teams and players, so it will be a fun challenge this week. Our guys have been preparing in some great weather and we excited to get going tomorrow morning."
This year's tournament features an impressive crop of elite teams as seven schools in attendance are ranked among the top-25 including No. 2 Oklahoma State, No. 3 Georgia Tech, No. 8 Auburn, No. 10 Stanford, No. 14 Texas Tech, No. 16 Texas and No. 19 USC. Arizona State, San Jose State, UC Davis, Oregon, Pacific, Oregon State, TCU, Hawaii, Colorado, Osaka Gakuin University and host-Hawaii Hilo round out the field.
Eight Tigers will play the course this weekend. The starting lineup features junior Jacob Solomon, sophomore Jovan Rebula, junior Trace Crowe and the freshman duo of Brandon Mancheno and Wells Padgett. Additionally, Ben Schlottman, Graysen Huff and Andrew Kozan will play as individuals.
Rebula, a product of George, South Africa, enters the Amer Ari Invitational as the team's leader in stroke average with a 70.67. Mancheno and Padgett round out the top-3 with a 70.92 and a 71.25 average, respectively.
Auburn will look to build off their success during the fall where the Tigers finished in the top-5 in all four tournaments played.
Live scoring for the Amer Ari Invitational can be found at Golfstat.com.