Beavers Off To Solid Start At Amer Ari
WAIKOLOA, Hawai’i – The Oregon State men’s golf team had four players shoot under-par rounds on Thursday to put the Beavers in a tie for fifth place in the 18-team field after the opening day of the 24th Annual Amer Ari Invitational.
Sophomore Kevin Murphy fired a team-best 3-under 69, senior Alex Franklin and junior Brian Jung each carded a 2-under 70 and sophomore Conner Kumpula added a 1-under 71 to give the Beavers an 8-under 280 at the par-72, 7,074-yard Waikoloa Kings’ Course.
Pac-12 teams hold down the top four spots after the first round in a tournament that includes 14 teams ranked in the top 50 in the nation by golfstat.com. USC leads with a 12-under 276, Arizona State and Washington are tied for second with an 11-under 277 and Stanford is fourth with a 10-under 278. Auburn, Texas Tech and Oregon are tied with Oregon State for fifth place with an 8-under 280.
The second round of the three-day, 54-hole tournament will begin with a shotgun start at 7:30 a.m. Hawai’i time (9:30 a.m. PT) on Friday and live scoring is available at golfstat.com.
| T5 | Oregon State | 280 | 280 |
| T12 | Kevin Murphy (1) | 69 | 69 |
| T24 | Brian Jung (2) | 70 | 70 |
| T24 | Alex Franklin (4) | 70 | 70 |
| T40 | Conner Kumpula (3) | 71 | 71 |
| T62 | Chris Tedesco (5) | 73 | 73 |
“It was a really good start by each of the guys,” Oregon State head coach Jon Reehoorn said. “A couple of them are disappointed with how they finished, which I think is a good state of mind to be in as they will be ready to get after it tomorrow.”
Murphy bogeyed his first hole of the day, the par-4, 453-yard 10th, but got back to even at the turn. He birdied four of the first five holes on his back nine before finishing with a bogey to finish with a 3-under 69 and put him in a tie for 12th place.
“I’m really proud of Kevin today,” Reehoorn said. “On the first hole he hit a great tee shot, looked down at his drive and the head was cracked. Without a backup here with him, his only option for a replacement was one from the head professional at the golf course. It would have been easy for him to allow the bad luck to affect him the rest of the day, but he wasn’t even fazed.”
Franklin and Jung each had four birdies and two bogeys to post a 2-under 70 for a tie for 24th place. Kumpula eagled the par-5 fourth hole to go with four birdies and five bogeys for a 1-under 71. Junior Chris Tedesco had two birdies and three bogeys for a 1-over 73.
Cheng-Tsung Pan of Washington and Jon Rahm of Arizona State share the individual clubhouse lead with a 7-under 65.
“The key to success for the rest of the week is to forget about today and begin each day at zero,” Reehoorn said. “The field here is very strong, and if the weather continues like it was today, the scores will be low. Our only focus needs to be our best selves.”
