Historic Tournaments: The Amer Ari
AMER ARI INVITATIONAL
This post is a little different as it serves as a host of links, but the focus today is on one of the top tournaments on the men’s Spring calendar: The Amer Ari Invitational.
I had the pleasure of writing about this prestigious event for both Scoreboard and with Mikkel Bjerch-Andresen of MikkelGolf after getting time to speak with some wonderful folks directly involved with the event including (but not limited to): Kevin Ginoza, Coach Earl Tamiya, Coach Jean-Paul Hebert [UNLV], and of course Mikkel. I hope you enjoy learning more about this long-running Hawaiian tournament that has some incredible history ranging from a Tiger Woods lost playoff to Wenyi Ding breaking collegiate scoring records!
*Note: underlined text can be clicked as a link to a source or relevant webpage
SCOREBOARD: QUICK 9 PREVIEW
Dan Davies and the folks over at Scoreboard (powered by Clippd) have continued to provide a really cool opportunity to preview some of the top tournaments this season. With each of these I try to blend history with context of the current season to give a full (but compact) scope of the event. Would love for you to check out the Amer Ari “Quick 9 Preview” here:
https://scoreboard.clippd.com/articles/amer-ari-invitational-2025-preview-david-tenneson
Be sure to follow along with the live scoring on Scoreboard during the tournament Feb 6-8, 2025!
HISTORY & INSIGHT with MIKKEL
Mikkel is one of my favorite people to collaborate with and we’ve already tackled a few interesting college golf topics including: the advantages of hosting NCAA regionals, college coaches subbing more in post-season play, and an in-depth look into The Carmel Cup.
Owing to both the location and unique personality of the organizing coach, the Amer Ari has over 30 years of unbelievably rich history from annually hosting some of the top men’s teams around the country (and even more internationally). Mikkel and I explored much of this history, and Mikkel provides amazing first-hand insight into what makes this event so special:
(COMING SOON) DATA DEEP DIVE with MIKKEL
Mikkel and I aren’t quite done with this event. We’ve put together nearly all of the tournament results going back to the beginning (1991), and thought this would be the perfect opportunity to debut something we’ve been working on to provide others with a means to explore this data too.
Soon after the conclusion of the 2025 tournament, we will release another post focusing on the data itself and will share a link to a dashboard that will let you get your own hands (digitally) dirty. That dashboard will be available on Mikkel’s website as well as my own site, which is still in development.
In the meantime, be sure to subscribe to Mikkel’s newsletter to get that post with the links sent directly to your inbox.
QUICK REQUEST
I need your help! A large part of what I’m trying to do is build the ultimate archive of college golf data/history, which will eventually be available to everyone to freely explore and research the great history of this sport. If there happens to be anyone reading this who has round-by-round player data for this tournament - specifically 1992, 94, 98 - or other source materials such as old tournament results sheets, photos, or even personal recollections, I’d love to hear from you!
Thanks for reading! Please share with anyone you think might also enjoy this look into college golf history.