After three months off, Grand Canyon's three-peat quest resumes on the island of Kauai in Lihue, Hawai'i, in one of collegiate golf's most highly touted tournaments.
Competing in the John A. Burns Intercollegiate for the eighth time over the past nine years, GCU will look to follow its early-season success after a four-tournament fall slate that included three top-five placements.
The three-day tournament begins Thursday at the Ocean Course Hokuala, playing at 7,098 yards and a par 70.
The stacked field includes 17 teams, five of which rank in the top 30 of the Clippd Scoreboard rankings. Leading the field is No. 10 Illinois, No. 16 Utah, No. 21 BYU, No. 23 San Diego State and No. 28 Texas A&M. GCU enters the week ranked No. 55, eighth best in the field.
The full field also includes Long Beach State, UNLV, California, New Mexico, Santa Clara, Saint Mary's, UTEP, Missouri, Washington State, Fresno State and Hawai'i.
The Lopes will field a young squad for its first tournament of the spring, with freshmen
Matthew Diehl and
Nixon Lauritzen continuing their first collegiate campaign after record-breaking numbers in the fall. Sophomore
Gavin O'Neill and junior
Sam Murphy compete for the second straight season at the Ocean Course Hokuala, with senior
Kiko Coelho rounding out the starting five. Graduate
Tommaso Zorzetto also will compete as an individual.
Each round will begin with a shotgun start at noon (Phoenix time). Live scoring can be found
here.