Feb. 5, 2015 Live scoring WAIKOLOA, Hawaii - Sparked by strong play from freshmen
Ryan Han and
Jesse Bratz, as well as junior
Luke Vivolo, the UC Davis men's golf team shot a 7-under 281 Thursday during the first round of the Amer Ari Invitational at Waikoloa Kings' Course and are in ninth place, ahead of five teams ranked higher than them by Golfstat.
Han joined Vivolo by shooting 3-under 69, tying them for 12th place among the 112 players, while Bratz - making his Aggie debut - shot 70 and is tied for 24th. The powerful tournament features three top-10 teams. Thirteen of its 16 Div. I teams are ranked among the top 50. UC Davis is ranked 63rd.
"It was a very solid start for us today in this tournament," said head coach Cy Williams. "It was great to see the freshman step up and play like we know they are capable of."
The Aggies are just five shots off the pace being set by No. 14 USC (-12) while No. 25 Arizona State (-11) and No. 19 Washington are tied for second. The Aggies are currently ahead of No. 27 Oklahoma State (-6), No. 49 TCU (-6), No. 4 Texas (-5), No. 7 UCLA (-5) and No. 39 Colorado (+7).
Han, Vivolo and Bratz helped lead the way for UC Davis in the first round despite all three being in plus numbers early in their rounds. Han bogeyed the par-3 15th, his opening hole, while Vivolo was 3 over after three holes. However, both rallied back into red numbers. Han birdied two his next four holes and then added three more birdies while Vivolo didn't have any bogeys the rest of the way and was 6 under over his final 15 holes.
Bratz was 1 over after three holes but used three birdies over a four-hole span on the front side of the course to help him move 2 under. His card balanced the rest of the way with two birdies, two bogeys and five pars.
Senior Matt Seramin shot 73 and is tied for 62nd, highlighting his day with three birdies including consecutive ones on the No. 1 and No. 2 holes. Sophomore Nicolas Noya carded a 75 and had the Aggies' lone eagle when he got in on three shots on the par-5 18th. He's tied for 77th.
Cheng-Tsung Pan of Washington and John Rahm of Arizona State share the first-day lead on the individual scoreboard after each shooting 65.
The tournament is the first of the spring season for UC Davis which will host The Prestige at PGA WEST in La Quinta, California, on Feb. 16-18.
The teams will play another shotgun round on Friday beginning at 9:30 a.m. (Pacific). UC Davis will play with Auburn, Oregon State and Oklahoma State. The 54-hole event concludes on Saturday.
AMER ARI INVITATIONAL
Waikoloa, Hawaii (hosted by UH-Hilo)
Waikoloa Kings Course
Par 72, 7,074 yards
18 of 54 holes
TEAM STANDINGS
1. USC, 276
T2. Arizona State, 277
T2. Washington, 277
4. Stanford, 278
T5. Auburn, 280
T5. Oregon, 280
T5. Oregon State, 280
T5. Texas Tech, 280
9. UC DAVIS, 281
T10. Oklahoma State, 282
T10. TCU, 282
T10. Texas, 283
T10. UCLA, 283
14. San Jose State, 292
15. Hawaii, 294
16. Colorado, 295
17. UH-Hilo, 297
18. Osaka Gakuin University, 298
UC DAVIS
