The Amer Ari Intercollegiate has been scaled back, pared down and relocated, and like any sporting event during the pandemic, uncertainty always lingers.
“It’s a trying time and we are trying to make things work,” UH-Hilo coach Earl Tamiya said, “but we hope the teams coming down have a good time and enjoy the tournament. It’s crazy.”
Through it all, the field remains respectable. The 30th Amer Ari still welcomes some of men’s college golf’s best for three rounds on the Kohala Coast, even though preseason No. 1 Pepperdine, the defending tournament champion, had to withdraw because a member tested positive for COVID-19 after playing last week at the Southwestern Invitational.
That leaves the Amer Ari field at eight — down from the usual 20 — including Arizona State, ranked 12th by Golfweek, and co-hosts UH-Manoa and UH-Hilo. The Sun Devils’ David Puig, Golfweek’s top-ranked college golfer, carved up the Southwestern field en route to a nine-stroke victory.
With the closure of Waikoloa Kings’ Course, the tourney returns to Hapuna Golf Club, teeing off Tuesday morning. The same rules apply at Hapuna as they did at Waikoloa for Tamiya’s Vulcans, the lone Division II team playing.
“We have to pray for the wind,” he said with a chuckle. “That’s our equalizer.”
After a 10-month layoff from competition, the Vulcans were predictably rusty last month when they returned to practice, and they also are short-handed, featuring six golfers. Seniors Evan Merrier and Taylor Patrick, both from Canada, were the Vuls’ fourth- and fifth-best scorers last season, respectively, but they are no longer with the team because of uncertainty regarding the virus.
“We hope everybody will pick their scores up, but you never know,” Tamiya said. “Especially at Hapuna, you never know.”
Sophomore Andrew Otani of Honolulu finished 2-under last season at Waikoloa and led the Vuls in scoring average (73.18). He he returns as the unqualified team anchor and carries the mental game and confidence to stay there, Tamiya said.
Consistency, he said, makes junior Dustin Franko and redshirt freshman Junghwan Lee his next best golfers entering the abbreviated season. It’s the fourth and fifth spots he’s still trying to fill. The candidates are sophomore Noah Lau, and freshmen Nicholas Gomez and Ethan Hironaga, a Hilo High alum.
“Ethan, right now, it’s starting to happen, he just needs to mature,” Tamiya said. “This is a different type of game. I keep telling him, this ain’t high school golf. We can’t hold your hand. You have to go, and he’s trying.”
The Rainbow Warriors return seven golfers, including Kotaro Murata, who led the team with a 72.6 scoring average last season and was 9-under at the 2020 Amer Ari. UH freshman Isaiah Kanno, a former Waiakea standout, will make his college debut.
The other six teams in the field are No. 43 Georgia Tech, No. 44 USC, No. 60 Oregon State, No. 64 Washington and No. 69 San Jose State.
Spectators with masks are allowed, though Tamiya added a qualifier: “Hapuna isn’t an easy course to walk.”
