WAIKOLOA, Hawaii - Freshman Carl Corpus shot the low round of the day for the San José State men's golf team in the first round of the Amer Ari Invitational at the Waikoloa Kings' Course.
Corpus fired a 3-under 69, tied for his second-best round of the season. After starting on the sixth hole, Corpus carded four birdies on the back nine and ended his round with a double bogey on the par-3 third, an eagle on the par-5 fourth - his first eagle of the season - and a bogey on the par-4 fifth. The freshman had the third-best par 5 scoring on the day, at 4-under par over four par-5 holes.
"Carl played really well today," said head coach John Kennaday. "We've been really pleased with the way Carl has played throughout the year. I like what I see about his organization and his discipline is improving drastically."
Corpus is tied for 17th on the individual leaderboard.
As a team the Spartans, at 2-under 286, sit in 12th place out of the 20 teams in the field. No. 19 ranked Texas and No. 2 ranked Georgia Tech are tied for first at 14-under par. The Spartans are one shot back of No. 26 ranked Oregon State in 11th and eight shots better than No. 25 Stanford at 10-over. The 20-team field includes nine top-30 teams, including No. 1 ranked Pepperdine.
"We were really close to breaking through with a low round today," Kennaday added. "We're excited to get back on the course tomorrow and get back at it."
Bryce Wortman and Caleb Shetler were each even par after round one, both shooting 72. Sean Yu and Parker Sisk each shot a 1-over 73 in their opening rounds. Nate Jetter and Matthew Heitel, playing individually
The Amer Ari Invitational is a three-round event with the second round tomorrow and the third and final round on Saturday.