The No. 11 ranked men’s golf team got its first taste of action in 2012 last week at the Amer Ari Invitational. Twenty teams competed in this annual three-round event held in Waikoloa, Hawaii, including eight of the top fourteen teams in the nation.
Tech rallied after a slow start to the first round and finished with a strong third round to take fourth in the tournament with an overall team score of nineteen-under-par. No. 1 Texas, No. 12 Southern California, and No. 8 Stanford took first, second, and third, respectively.
The Jackets found themselves sitting in fifth place after the first round despite starting the day making more bogeys than birdies. Senior James White was at three-over-par through ten holes before coming back to make birdie on five of his last seven to finish at two-under.
Sophomore Richard Werenski also birdied five of seven to close his round at three-under-par, tying sophomore Bo Andrews for Tech’s best score of the day. Freshman Anders Albertson double-bogeyed his fifth hole, but did not bogey for the rest of the round and finished the day at two-under.
The next day was not as successful for the Jackets, as freshman Ollie Schniederjans, Albertson and Werenski each shot three-over-par. Andrews and White led the teams matching their scores from the previous day at three-under-par and two-under-par, respectively.
Despite being the only team not to break par, Tech was still in fifth place at the end of round two.
The team bounced back in round three as all five Jackets shot under par. White shot a team best four-under-par to finish the tournament at eight-under.
Schniederjans also posted his best round of the event on the last day, shooting three-under-par after being over par in his first two rounds.
Albertson was at two-under while Andrews and Werenski each shot one-under-par to close out the tournament for the Jackets. Tech took fourth place overall in the event while White and Andrews finished in the top ten individually, White came in fourth with a total score of eight-under-part and Andrews tied for sixth place at seven-under-par.
The Jackets return to action on Feb. 19 when they head to Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, to participate in the Puerto Rico Classic, where they finished second in 2011.