AUBURN, Ala. – The top-ranked Auburn men's golf team officially kickstarts its spring season Feb. 8-10 at the Amer Ari Invitational hosted by Mauna Lani Golf Club in Waikoloa, Hawai'i. It marks the 10th time since 2013 that the Tigers have opened the year at the tournament.
"We're blessed to be able to play our first tournament of the year at such an incredible venue," Tigers head coach Nick Clinard said. "It's a great experience, but we're also here on business. It's a new course, so that presents some new challenges for us to overcome. It's also an incredibly skilled field of players. If you don't bring your best game out here, someone will certainly pass you up. We're looking to start the year strong and compete with the best of them."
Teeing off alongside the No. 1 Tigers at Amer Ari are No. 2 North Carolina, No. 5 Washington, No. 7 Arizona State, No. 11 Florida State, No. 12 Georgia Tech, No. 16 Texas, No. 18 Oregon and No. 24 Texas Tech as well as unranked Hawaii, Hawaii-Hilo, Oklahoma State, Oregon State, Osaka Gakuin (Japan), Pacific, Pepperdine, San Jose State, Stanford, UC Davis and UCLA.
Leading the Auburn charge will be fifth year Alex Vogelsong, redshirt-junior Carson Bacha, junior Brendan Valdes, sophomore Reed Lotter and freshmen Jackson Koivun and Cayden Pope. Five men will play for the team, and the sixth will play as an individual. The individual player will be determined closer to the start of competition.
Thursday's first round of play will commence in a shotgun start at 11:30 a.m. CT. The Tigers will begin on holes 4-7, playing with UCLA, San Jose State and Osaka Gakuin.
Auburn concluded the fall with victories in three of its four showings. The most notable win came at the SEC Fall Preview in late September. The Tigers cruised to a 13-shot victory in stroke play and followed it with a gutsy 3-2 win over No. 7 Vanderbilt in the championship match. Koivun introduced himself to the collegiate golf stage with a head-to-head win over the world's No. 1 amateur, Gordon Sargent, on the 20th hole of the match.
The Tigers' other team titles came at the Mirabel Maui Jim Intercollegiate and the Fallen Oak Collegiate Invitational. The Orange & Blue enter Amer Ari boasting a 48-1 head-to-head record and a 14-1 record against top-25 competition.
Valdes leads the roster with a 69.08 strokes per round scoring average on the year. The Orlando, Florida product has yet to finish worse than eighth in an event this season. Koivun follows tightly behind with a 69.17 average. The rookie from Chapel Hill, North Carolina boasts a streak of four consecutive top-20 outings, including a pair of second-place finishes. Koivun matched the school record with a 17-under-par performance in his collegiate debut at the Maui Jim last September.
Another valuable asset to the squad this weekend will be the experience of Vogelsong. The veteran enters the tournament sitting 122 career rounds played, which ranks 13th all-time in program history.
Bacha and Lotter both had solid showings over the fall and look to repeat on a pair of stellar springs from the season prior. Pope competed in a pair of individual events, the Maui Jim individual and the MartinFed Invitational, and finished inside the top 20 in each.
Live scoring for the entirety of the Amer Ari Invitational will be provided via Golfstat.com.