Men's Golf preview: Amer Ari Invitational

WHAT: Texas (No. 18 Golfweek/Sagarin) begins the spring season at the University of Hawaii-Hilo's 24^th annual Amer Ari Invitational Thursday-Saturday (Feb. 6-8).

WHERE: Waikoloa King's Course (par 72, 7,074 yards) – Waikoloa, Hawaii

TEE TIMES: The Longhorns will tee off in a shotgun start format beginning at 11:30 a.m. Central Thursday morning. Tee times for the second and third rounds will be determined following first and second-round standings, respectively.

THE TOURNAMENT FIELD – 20 teams (Top 50-Golfweek/Sagarin rankings): No. 2 Georgia Tech, No. 3 Oklahoma State, No. 9 Stanford, No. 13 Washington, No. 16 UCLA, No. 18 TEXAS, No. 22 USC, No. 28 Auburn, No. 34 Arizona State, No. 49 Oregon State, No. 50 UC Davis, California State, Colorado, Hawaii-Hilo, Hawaii-Manoa, Oregon, Osaka Gakuin, San Jose State, TCU, Texas Tech.

LAST YEAR AT THE AMER ARI INVITATIONAL (Feb. 6-8, 2013): Former Texas Men's Golf standouts Cody Gribble and Brandon Stone recorded the Longhorns' top individual finishes as the duo shared fourth place at 8-under 208. The then-No. 2 Texas Men's Golf team (279-283-288=850, +14) tied for fourth place at their 2013 spring debut.

LIVE SCORING: The Amer Ari Invitational

TEXAS STARTERS

1) Gavin Hall
- Two Top 20 finishes in his first four events as a Longhorn
- Recorded a season-best sixth place finish at the Jerry Pate Intercollegiate
- Finished at even-par 210 (76-71-73) at the Jerry Pate, making him one of just two Longhorns to finish a tournament at par or better during the fall season

2) Toni Hakula
- No. 48 Men's Collegiate Individual per Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings
- Two Top 10 finishes in 2013 Fall season
- 2013 British Am runner-up
- Leads Texas with a 72.00 stroke average through 12 rounds this season
- Finished at 1-under 215 (73-71-71) at the Isleworth Collegiate Invitational, making him one of just two Longhorns to finish a tournament at par or better during the fall season

3) Beau Hossler
- Making his fifth appearance in the Texas lineup
- Recorded a season-best 11^th place finish at the season-opening Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational

4) Brax McCarthy
- Making his fourth appearance in the Texas lineup
- Made his collegiate debut at the Amer Ari Invitational last year after joining the team as a walk prior to the 2012-13 season

5) Kramer Hickok
- Making his first appearance in this season since suffering a right wrist injury during the summer
- Shot a career-low 66 in the second round of the 2013 NCAA Championship
- Appeared in the Texas lineup 10 times last season, where 24-of-30 (.800) competitive rounds counted towards the final team score

Individual – Will Griffin
- First appearance in 2013-14 season

The University of Texas at Austin Athletics