By Thomas Christian (@ThomasGoatnba) – Reporter
San Jose State’s finest men’s golfers traveled to the beautiful Waikoloa Kings’ Course in Waikoloa, Hawaii, for the Amer Ari Invitational taking place from Feb. 3-5.
A five-person team looked to take on a loaded field including the likes of UCLA, Oregon, and Stanford. Vijay Srinivasan entered as the lone individual golfer representing SJSU.
Through Round One, Kristopher Stiles led SJSU with a score of 67, just two back of first place, mainly after a tournament-leading three eagles.
Stiles’ three eagles led not just the individual statistics category, but all teams in eagles through the tournament’s first two days.
Two other Spartans, Carl Corpus and Caleb Shetler held firm in the top 50 of the tournament, knotted at a score of 71. The team held strong in 8th place overall, with a total score of 282.
In Round Two, Carl Corpus picked things up and submitted a team-low score of 66. That was good for a total of 137 and a six-way tie for 15th place. The rest of the Spartans slipped to record scores in the mid-seventies, and SJSU as a team fell to No. 10 in the standings.
Though in the bottom half of the standings, the Spartans displayed excellent fundamental mastery, tying for fourth place in par holes tournament-wide through Round Two.
The tropical Hawaiian sun shone down as preparations for Round Three of the competition got underway. Three Spartans stood in the top 50, within swinging distance of a top finish.
Kristopher Stiles and Carl Corpus accomplished that feat, finishing with total scores of 207 and 211 respectively. Stiles submitted a top-15 finish, while four additional strokes sat Corpus at 34th.
Stiles’ high finish comes off the back of tournament-leading eagles. SJSU as a team recorded six eagles, with the additional two coming from Vijay Srinivasan and Carl Corpus.
As a team, the Spartans tied for No. 12 with UC Davis as the Amer Ari Invitational drew to a close. The five entered into the team stage had a total score of 850, 36 strokes from tournament winner Oklahoma State.