WAIKOLOA, Haw. – What an honor… what a challenge. The members of Chico State’s men’s golf team will be living like kings this week, playing on the Kings’ Course on the Big Island in Hawaii thanks to an invitation to play in the 22nd annual Amer Ari Invitational at Waikoloa Beach Resort Wednesday through Friday against many of the kings of Division I collegiate golf.

The Wildcats, ranked No. 9 in the nation among Division II teams after winning three of their four fall tournaments, are one of only two D-II teams in the field, joining 17th-ranked Hawaii-Hilo.

Eight of golfstat’s top 14 Division I teams will play in what Golf Digest deemed the second toughest Division I tournament in the nation this year. The 20-team field includes top-ranked Texas, No. 2 Oregon, No. 4 UCLA, No. 5 Washington and No. 8 Stanford. No. 11 Georgia Tech, No. 12 USC, No. 14 Oklahoma State, Arizona State, Oregon State, Texas Christian, UC Davis, Texas Tech, Colorado, the University of Hawaii, San Jose State, the University of San Francisco, and Osaka Gakuin University of Japan will also compete.

The Wildcats will tee up with a shotgun start each day at 9:30 a.m., PST, on the 7,074-yard par 72 Kings’ Course at Waikoloa Beach Golf Club. Live stats for the tournament will be available at www.golfstat.com.

The tournament gives the Wildcats a chance to prove themselves against some of the nation’s top collegiate golfers. It also gives defending Division II National Champion Kyle Souza a chance to make a pitch for a spot on the 2012 Palmer Cup Team. This is the second straight year he’s been named one of the finalists for the other that goes to the top eight collegiate players from the U.S. and Great Britain. Souza, who won three tournaments and finished second in the other this fall, carries a stroke average of 71.2 into the spring.

Kevin Rei, Eric Frazzetta, Bobby Bucey and Matt Williams will also be on the Wildcats roster this week.