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UCLA to Compete at Amer Ari Invitational

Feb 2, 2022
Pablo Ereño Perez

LOS ANGELES – The UCLA men's golf team will compete at the Amer Ari Invitational at Hapuna Golf Course in Kamuela, Hawai'I this week. The 54-hole stroke play event begins Thursday, Feb. 3 and runs through Saturday, Feb. 5.
 
Live scoring is available at this link.
 
UCLA's starting five will be composed of graduates Devon Bling and Eddy Lai, freshmen Pablo Ereño Perez and Alvaro Muller Baumgart Lucena and redshirt senior Kengo Aoshima. Aoshima, a transfer from Wake Forest, will be making his Bruin debut at the tournament.
 
Event History
UCLA has won the Amer Ari Invitational twice in the tournament's history dating back to 1992. Most recently, the Bruins came out on top in 2013 with a team score of 3-under, 285. UCLA clinched the victory in a sudden-death playoff, with each Bruin player making par to seal the win after UCLA and Washington returned to the 17th hole to determine the tiebreaker.
 
Pedro Figueiredo led the way with a 2-under 7- in the final round. Pontus Widegren finished T-4th in the tournament.
 
UCLA was also crowned Amer Ari Invitational champion in 2004.
 
Arizona State was the tournament's most recent champion in 2021 with Sun Devil David Puig also finishing first individually.
 
The Field
Joining the Bruins in the 19-team field is defending National Champion No. 2 Pepperdine as well as five other top-10 teams: No. 1 Arizona State, No. 5 North Carolina, No. 6 Oklahoma State, No. 7 Stanford and No. 9 Texas Tech. Also participating is No. 15 Texas, No. 17 Washington, No. 18 Georgia Tech, Hawai'i-Manoa, Oregon State, San Jose State, TCU, Auburn, UC Davis, Pacific and course host Hawai'i-Hilo.
 
Five of the nation's top-10 individual golfers, according to Golf Week, will be competing at the event:
2. J.M. Butler, Auburn
4. Joe Highsmith, Pepperdine
5. Cameron Sisk, Arizona State
7. Ryan Gerard, North Carolina
9. R.J. Manke, Washington
 
Last Time Out
The Bruins finished in seventh place with a score of 12-over, 876 at the Southwestern Invitational in Westlake Village, Calif., on Wednesday, Jan. 26.
 
Bling enters Thursday with a team-best 72.6 stroke average and the only Bruin to have each round counted towards the team score. At the Southwestern Invitational, Bling was tied for first place on the individual leader board after two rounds at 8-under 136 with back-to-back bogey-free back nines. Bling dropped to T-13th after posting a 7-over 79 in his final round.
 
Bling is averaging a team-best 71.3 score in his first round of play across each tournament this season. He is a collective 3-under, 285 in first rounds.
 
Lai shot up seven spots on the leader board with a 2-under 70 in his final round of the Southwestern Invitational to post his first top-10 finish of the season and lead UCLA with a 3-under 213 in the tournament.