Rewriting record books is a little easier in the digital age, but some sports information types had a very busy couple of days when the results of the Amer Ari Invitational went final last Saturday at the Mauna Lani Golf Resort’s North Course on Hawaii’s Kohala Coast.
The top three finishers in the team standings, champion North Carolina, runnerup Arizona State and Auburn, all established program records for total scores and scores in relation to par as par at the 6,913-yard, par-72 Mauna Lani North Course was mostly ignored by the talented bunch of college golfers that descended upon it last weekend.
The three Atlantic Coast Conference teams that reached the semifinals in last spring’s NCAA Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., the Tar Heels, reigning ACC champion Georgia Tech and Florida State, all finished among the top seven in the team standings at the Amer Ari.
In Arizona State, there was a fourth finisher among the top seven in the Amer Ari that was among the eight teams that earned spots in the match-play bracket last spring at Grayhawk.
And then there was the individual champion, Arizona State’s Wenyi Ding, a freshman from China and No. 8 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).
Ding, winner of the U.S. Junior Amateur at Bandon Dunes in the summer of 2022, just joined the Sun Devils in time for the spring portion of the wraparound 2023-2024 season. He obliterated Jon Rahm Arizona State records on his way to a nine-shot victory.
Ding opened with a 9-under 63 and added an 8-under 64 in Friday’s second round and somehow was even better in the final round with a 10-under 62 for an otherworldly 27-under 189 total. Rahm could only manage a 21-under 192 when he established the old record at the 2014 ASU Thunderbird Invitational.
When guys like Ludvig Aberg, the consensus No. 1 player in college golf with Texas Tech last spring, go right to playing in the Ryder Cup and winning on the PGA Tour and Nick Dunlap going right from playing college golf as a sophomore at Alabama in the fall to winning on the PGA Tour as an amateur and immediately turning pro, you start to realize that more and more of these college players are not that far removed from competing at the next level.
It looked like Pac-12 power Arizona State was going to roll to the team title when North Carolina’s Dylan Menante, a fifth-year player from Carlsbad, Calif. and No. 6 in the WAGR, ripped off six straight birdies on the back nine at Mauna Lani North to lead a final surge to the title for the Tar Heels.
North Carolina, which lost to Georgia Tech in the semifinals of the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk last spring, opened with a scintillating 26-under 262 at Mauna Lani and added a 20-under 268 in Friday’s second round before closing with a 22-under 266 for a remarkable 68-under 796 total.
They were record-smashing totals as North Carolina’s previous best total for a 54-hole event was 814 at the 2021 ACC Championship and its previous best number in relation to par was 49 under in their Tar Heel Invitational in the 2017-’18 season.
It was North Carolina’s fourth win of the season and second in a row as they closed out the fall portion of the wraparound 2023-’24 season with a victory in the East Lake Cup, earning a 3.5-1.5 decision over Florida State in the match-play final of the event that brings together last spring’s semifinalists from the NCAA Championship.
Arizona State was never far behind the Tar Heels as the Sun Devils opened with a 23-under 265 before adding back-to-back 20-under 268s in the last two rounds to finish five shots behind North Carolina with a 63-under 801 total.
After opening with a relatively pedestrian 16-under 272, Southeastern Conference power Auburn ripped off the low round of the week, a spectacular 27-under 261, a program record, in Friday’s second round to surge into contention. The Tigers closed with a 15-under 273 to finish five shots behind Arizona State with a 58-under 806 total.
It was another program record for the Tigers, their 58-under total bettering the 56-under total they shot in winning last fall’s Mirabel Maui Jim Intercollegiate. Obviously, Auburn thrives when the trade winds are blowing in the Pacific Ocean.
Auburn advanced to the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk last spring after claiming the team title as the host at the NCAA’s Auburn Regional. The Tigers finished in 10th place, just six shots short of the top eight that comprised the match-play bracket at Grayhawk.
Big 12 power Texas Tech and Washington, another entry out of the disintegrating Pac-12, finished a shot behind Auburn in a tie for fourth place, each landing on 57-under 807.
The Red Raiders opened with a 21-under 267 and added a 16-under 272 in Friday’s second round before closing with a 20-under 268.
Texas Tech advanced to the NCAA Championship by finishing in fourth place as the top seed in the Norman Regional behind Aberg, who claimed the individual crown. But the Red Raiders never really got it going at Grayhawk.
After opening with a 12-under 276, Washington unleashed a 26-under 262, a single-round program record by four shots, in Friday’s second round before closing with a 19-under 269.
The Huskies failed to advance to the NCAA Championship last spring as a six seed in the Auburn Regional.
A couple of North Carolina’s ACC rivals, Georgia Tech and Florida State, accounted for the next two spots on the team leaderboard as the Yellow Jackets finished in sixth place with a 50-under 814 total, seven shots behind Texas Tech and Washington, and the Seminoles were seventh in the 20-team field with a 47-under 817 total, three shots behind Georgia Tech.
Georgia Tech, which fell, 3-1, to Florida in the Final Match at Grayhawk last spring, opened with a 12-under 276 at Mauna Lani and added a 15-under 273 in Friday’s second round before surging up the leaderboard with a sizzling 23-under 265 in the final round.
After opening with a 15-under 273, Florida State posted an 8-under 280 in Friday’s second round, but the Seminoles, too, surged in the final round with the best round of the day, a 24-under 264.
Florida State suffered a 3-2 setback to eventual national champion Florida in the NCAA semifinals at Grayhawk last spring, a loss that had to hurt in that ancient Sunshine State rivalry.
You’ll see a bunch of the teams that teed it up in the Amer Ari when the NCAA Championship reconvenes this spring at a new site, the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa’s Champions Course in Carlsbad, Calif.
Leading the way for North Carolina was David Ford, a junior from Peachtree Corners, Ga. and No. 3 in the WAGR who got the Tar Heels rolling with an opening round of 8-under 64. David Ford added a 4-under 68 in Friday’s second round and closed with a 5-under 67 that left him among a trio of players tied for fourth place with a 17-under 199 total.
Menante, too, got off to a fast start with a 7-under 65 before cooling off with a 2-under 70 in Friday’s second round. His back-nine 29 enabled Menante earn low-Tar Heel honors in the final round with another 7-under 65 that left him alone in seventh place with a 16-under 200 total.
David Ford and Menante were teammates on the United States team that regained the Walker Cup with a 14.5-11.5 victory over Great Britain & Ireland last summer at the home of golf, the Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland.
Peter Fountain, a senior from Raleigh, N.C. and No. 66 in the WAGR, gave North Carolina a third finisher inside the top 10 as he finished among a group of six players tied for eighth place at 15-under 201. Fountain added a 6-under 66 in Friday’s second round to his opening-round 68 before closing with a 5-under 67.
Austin Greaser, a graduate student from Vandalia, Ohio and No. 12 in the WAGR, finished in the group tied for 19th place with a 13-under 203 total. Greaser, the runnerup in the U.S. Amateur at iconic Oakmont Country Club in the suburbs of Pittsburgh in the summer of 2021, added a sparkling 6-under 66 in Friday’s second round to his opening-round 70 before finishing up with a 5-under 67.
Greaser gave North Carolina a third player on the winning U.S. side in last summer’s Walker Cup at St. Andrews.
Maxwell Ford – he and brother David are two of three triplets along with a sister – rounded out the North Carolina lineup as finished among the group tied for 33rd place with an 11-under 205 total. Maxwell Ford, No. 32 in the WAGR, got off to a good start at Mauna Lani with a 7-under 65 in the opening round. He added a 4-under 68 in Friday’s second round before matching par in the final round with a 72.
Maxwell Ford spent the first two years of his college career at Georgia before joining his brother at North Carolina, a nice addition to an already formidable group of Tar Heels.
David Ford, Menante, Fountain and Greaser were all in the lineup in North Carolina’s 3-2 loss to Georgia Tech in the NCAA semifinals at Grayhawk last spring.
San Jose State’s Carl Corpus, a senior from the Philippines, and Washington’s Finn Koelle, a freshman from Germany and No. 84 in the WAGR, finished in a tie for second place in the individual standings, each landing on 18-under 198, nine shots behind Ding.
Corpus closed with a sizzling 8-under 64 after carding back-to-back 5-under 67s in the first two rounds. Koelle contributed an 8-under 64 to Washington’s surge in Friday’s second round after he had opened with a 66. Koelle closed with a solid 4-under 68.
Joining North Carolina’s David Ford in the trio tied for fourth place at 17-under were Texas Tech’s Matthew Comegys, a sophomore from Van Alstyne, Texas, and Auburn’s Jackson Koivun, a freshman from Chapel Hill, N.C. and No. 41 in the WAGR.
Comegys opened with a scintillating 9-under 63 and added back-to-back 4-under 68s in the final two rounds.
Koivun, an accomplished player in the junior ranks, contributed a 9-under 63 to Auburn’s spectacular surge in Friday’s second round after he had opened with a 5-under 67. Koivun and Koelle were still within shouting distance of Ding, trailing him by only three shots going into the final round. Koivun closed with a 3-under 69.
North Carolina’s Fountain was in good company in the six-way tie at 15-under, including Auburn’s Brendan Valdes, a junior from Orlando, Fla. and No. 28 in the WAGR, Pepperdine’s Brady Siravo, a sophomore from Sacramento, Calif., Florida State’s Luke Clanton, a sophomore from Hialeah, Fla. and No. 16 in the WAGR, Washington’s Petr Hruby, a fifth-year player from the Czech Republic and No. 57 in the WAGR, and Georgia Tech’s Bartley Forrester, a senior from Gainesville, Ga. and No. 55 in the WAGR.
Valdes got a little better in each round as he added a 5-under 67 in Friday’s second round to his opening-round 69 before closing with a 7-under 65. Siravo also closed with a 7-under 65 after registering back-to-back 4-under 68s in the first two rounds.
Clanton added a 4-under 68 in Friday’s second round to his opening-round 67 and finished up with a sparkling 6-under 66. Hruby contributed a 6-under 66 to the Huskies’ surge in Friday’s second round after opening with a 68 before finishing up with a 5-under 67.
Forrester was the picture of consistency, rattling off three straight 5-under 67s. Forrester had the lone point for the Yellow Jackets in their loss to Florida in the NCAA’s Final Match at Grayhawk last spring.
Also in the Auburn lineup at Manua Lani was redshirt junior Carson Bacha, the 2019 PIAA Class AAA champion as a senior at Central York and No. 46 in the WAGR.
After matching par in the opening round with a 72, Bacha contributed a 6-under 66 to the Tigers’ surge in Friday’s second round before closing with a 2-under 70 that left him in the group tied for 50th place with an 8-under 208 total.
Texas Tech’s Jack Wall, a senior who starred scholastically at Christian Brothers Academy at the Jersey Shore, competed as an individual and finished in the group tied for 90th place with a 1-under 215 total. Wall matched par in each of the first two rounds with a pair of 72s before closing with a 1-under 71.
Wall reached the quarterfinals of the BMW Philadelphia Amateur at Stonewall in 2019 won by his older brother Jeremy. Jack Wall was about to start his college career at South Carolina that summer. He was a Gamecock for two years before transferring to Texas Tech.
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