WAIKOLOA, Hawaii – In what has otherwise been a tasty two days at the 22nd annual Amer Ari Invitational, the 16th hole has left a sour taste in the mouth of Kyle Souza. But despite his second straight double-bogey on the 16th, Souza is three shots off the lead thanks to his second straight round of 3-under par. That has the Palmer Cup hopeful just three strokes off the individual lead.
As a team, the Wildcats moved up two spots into 11th place Thursday behind the strong play of Souza and Eric Frazzetta, who carded a 1-under 71 to move into 21st place in the 116-player field.
Souza’s double on Thursday stole the thunder from a finishing stretch of four birdies in five holes. Wednesday’s double came during a run of four birdies in the final eight holes. Remarkably, had the defending Division II National Champion made par instead of double bogey both days, he could be leading what’s Golf Digest deemed the second toughest Division I tournament field in the nation this spring.
Souza, the top-ranked Division II golfer in the nation, will enter tomorrow’s final round at 6-under par, three strokes out of the lead in a group of eight that includes the top-ranked Division I player in the nation, Texas’ Dylan Frittelli. (Because I know you’re wondering, no relation to the Fratelli’s of Goonies fame). At 3-under, Frazzetta is looming six strokes back with just Friday’s round to play.
At 4-over par, the Wildcats, ranked No. 9 in the nation among Division II teams, lead seven Division I programs, including Division I No. 2 Oregon, which is 8-over. The only other Division II program in the 20-team field, Hawaii-Hilo, is in a tie for 17th place at 9-over par.
Texas, the top-ranked Division I team in the land, leads the tournament at 19-under par, three strokes clear of No. 4 UCLA at 16 under. 12th-ranked USC (-15) is in third place, followed by 5th-ranked Washington (-14) and 11th-ranked Georgia Tech and 8th-ranked Stanford (both -9), which round out the top five. The Wildcats sit within 10 strokes of Arizona State (-5), TCU (-2), 14th-ranked Oklahoma State (even) and Texas Tech (+3).
San Jose State and the University of San Francisco are both a stroke behind the Wildcats at 5-over.
Chico State’s Kevin Rei and Matt Williams both re-focused following rough patches, which was vital to keep the team heading in the right direction since Bobby Bucey was having an uncharacteristically tough outing. Rei was 3-over through six holes, but played even par over his last 12. Williams was rolling along with 10 straight pars to start the day, stumbled to a pair of bogeys and a triple-bogey over the next four holes, but then righted himself to finish par, birdie, par, par.
The Wildcats, winners of three of their four tournaments in the fall, are certainly not going to make it four of five on the season. However, if they play like they have over the first two days of the tournament Friday, they’ll come home with their heads up higher than after any of those early season wins.
The Wildcats tee off with a shotgun start at 9:30 a.m., PST. Live scoring is available at www.golfstat.com.
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