WAIKOLOA, Hawai`i – The Chico State men's golf team mixed it up with some of the best NCAA Division I teams in the nation in Thursday's opening round of the 26th annual Amer Ari Invitational, hosted by the University of Hawai`i Hilo at the Waikoloa Kings' Course on Thursday.
 
Tied for eighth late in the day, the Wildcats dropped four strokes late in the round, but still finished the first of three rounds in 13^th place in the 21-team field at 4-over par.
 
Led by Cole Chavez's 1-under par 71, the Wildcats are tied with Oregon State and San Jose State and lead Division I foes Hawai'i (+6), UC Davis (+7), the University of Pacific (+10), and St. Mary's (+12).
 
Chavez is tied for 30^th in the 120-player field, and leading 11 of Division I's top 100-ranked players. Kelley Sullivan is tied for 58^th at 1-over par, Serge Kiriluk and Colby Dean are tied for 71^st at 2-over par. Chris Colla shot a first round 77 and is tied for 101^st.

No. 18 nationally ranked Texas Tech is the surprise first round leader. The Red Raiders posted a team score of -18 (270), three shots ahead of No. 7 USC (-15) and eight shots in front of No. 6 Stanford (-10). The tournament continues on Friday and Saturday, with one round scheduled for each day.

No. 10 Texas, last year's NCAA runner-up, is sixth at -4 (284) with NCAA champion Oregon right behind them at -3. No. 4 nationally ranked Oklahoma State sits in 11th place out of the 21 teams at -2. Host Hawai'i-Hilo, the only other Division II team in the field, is +16 (304).

The first day of the tournament was played in mid 70's temperatures with very little wind.

The individual leaders are Arizona State's Jared du Toit and USC's Kyle Suppa, who fired sizzling rounds of 64, eight under par. One stroke back of that duo is Texas Christian's Stefano Mazzoli (65), while the Texas Tech twosome of Fredrik Nilehn and Federico Zucchetti follow at -6 after carding a pair of 66's.

USC's Suppa is a non-scoring member of the Trojan team, so his score did not count towards his teams' total.

Tomorrow's (Friday) shotgun start will begin at 9:30 a.m., Pacific.

First-Round Results