Event: Waikoala Invitational
Where: Waikoloa King’s Course, Kona – Hawaii
When: Wednesday through Friday, all day
Who to watch: Senior Austin Graham has made the All-Big West Conference team three years in a row.
The San Clemente, Calif. native currently leads the Aggies with an average score of 71.9 and two top-10 finishes.
Did you know? Aggie alumnus Scott Gordon kicked of his PGA Tour career at the Farmers Insurance Cup at Torrey Pines in San Diego this past weekend. Gordon shot a 74 at the event, good enough to make the cut.
Preview: The Aggies will tee off the spring season at the Amer Ari Invitational event at the Waikoloa King’s Course in Kona, Hawaii today against some of the most competitive schools in the nation.
Head coach Cy Williams expressed optimism about what his team can do at the event.
“The lineup we are sending over will be doing great things,” Williams said.
The golfers representing UC Davis are freshman Matt Hansen, senior Austin Graham, junior Tyler Raber, sophomore Andrew Haggen and freshman Matt Seramin.
The 54-hole tournament features eight teams ranked in the top 25 by Golfstat including No. 2 UCLA, No. 4 Oklahoma State, No. 5 Georgia Tech, No. 7 Texas and No. 9 Stanford. UC Davis makes its spring debut ranked 59th nationally. In total, 20 teams will compete in a tournament that is consistently ranked as one of the premiere collegiate golf tournaments outside of the Division I Championship.
UC Davis finished in the top 10 in all five of its fall tournaments, including a fourth-place performance at the Alister Mackenzie Invitational in October and a sixth-place finish at the Aggies’ own The Prestige at PGA West.
“Our fall put us in good shape and we got some good experience for our young players and we’re looking to build on that,” Williams said. “We’ve got a good lineup ready to go and we’re really excited to be up there with some of the best teams in the country.”
Williams also added that he is very proud of UC Davis alumnus Scott Gordon, who recently made his PGA Tour debut.
“This is an historic moment for the UC Davis men’s golf program as Scott will be carrying the Aggie flag out on tour, hopefully the first of many Aggies to come,” Williams said.
– Ron Hooper
