Arizona State men's golf kick off the spring season on the Big Island of Hawaii for the 26
th annual Amer Ari Invitational. The tournament, hosted by the University of Hawaii at Hilo, will take place February 2-4 at the Waikoloa Beach Resort. The course, designed by Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish, is Kings' Course at Waikoloa Beach Resort and is largely consider to be a player friendly course.
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This year's field features 21 total teams including seven teams ranking in the GCAA top 25 and a collegiate team from Japan. Arizona State will go up against six Pac-12 schools, including defending Amer Ari Invitational champion USC and reigning national champion Oregon.
"We are so excited to get going this spring, says first-year head coach Matt Thurmond. "We enjoyed the fall, but everything was so new for many of us that we were just sort of finding our way. Now we are in a rhythm as a team and ready to compete. I really like the makeup of this team. We have excellent veteran leadership and experience coupled with a talented group of rookies. Hawaii is always a great place to start and we've had a lot of good results here over the years. Plus we are riding the (Jon) Rahm wave this week and feeling good vibes. The weather is always sunny and windy here so that is a great challenge and training for us."
THE FIELD (CURRENT GCAA RANK): Oklahoma State (4), Stanford (6), USC (7), Auburn (8), Texas (11), Texas Tech (17), Oregon (22), Georgia Tech (26), Arizona State (29), Colorado (31), Oregon State, San Jose State, Texas Christian, UC Davis, UCLA, Hawaii Hilo, Hawaii, Pacific, Chico State (22 D-II), St. Mary's,  Osaka Gakuin (Japan).
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PAST SUCCESS IN THIS TOURNAMENT: ASU has had previous success at the Amer Ari Collegiate, as last year the team tied for third and won the tournament twice in 2015 and 1995. Â The Sun Devils have also had three individual medalists as Jesper Kennegard (2009), Chris Hanell (1996) and Todd Demsey (1994) took home the honors.
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FALL RECAP: The Sun Devils had a great fall season in 2016 posting three top-five finishes, including a win at the Alister Mackenzie Invitational. The individual medal at the Alister Invitational was also taken home by a Sun Devil as
Ki Taek Lee finished tied for first as a part of his breakout fall campaign. Team captain
Jared du Toit also had a notable fall, posting three top-ten finishes and eight top-ten finishes in his two years at Arizona State.
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SENIOR JARED DU TOIT:Â Senior captain
Jared du Toit will leads off for the Sun Devils in Hawaii. Since transferring to ASU before last season, du Toit has been a force with eight top-ten finishes including three of those in just four tournaments this fall. To continue his top-ten trend, he finished tied for ninth in the RBC Canadian Open this summer. The last Canadian amateur to post a top ten finish at the Canadian Open was Doug Bajus in 1954.
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LINEUP NOTES: The rest of the Sun Devil lineup feature a combination of rookies and veterans with three freshmen and a senior...in the two spot is freshman Alejandro del rey Gonzalez, who was both the U16 and U18 Spanish National Champion and helped the Sun Devil in a victory at the Alister Mackenzie Invitational this fall...newcomer
Chun (Kevin) An Yu who just joined the program in January, looks to make an immediate impact in his first tournament as a Sun Devil and he is followed by freshman
Blake Wagoner, who was also a part of the team's victory at the Alister Mackenzie Invitational...senior
Nicolo Galletti has posted four top-ten finishes as a Sun Devil including a victory at the 2015 University of Wyoming Southern.
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