HONOLULU — Kauai natives Pono Tokioka and Bryden Salvador will be among the golfers taking part in the 41st John Burns Intercollegiate golf tournament that will be contested at the Wailua Golf Course starting Wednesday and continuing through Friday. When
HONOLULU — Kauai natives Pono Tokioka and Bryden Salvador will be among the golfers taking part in the 41st John Burns Intercollegiate golf tournament that will be contested at the Wailua Golf Course starting Wednesday and continuing through Friday.
When the 18-team field opens, it will be the fourth consecutive year the University of Hawaii Mens Golf program will be hosting the field which includes seven teams ranked in the Top 50.
This includes California, a five-time consecutive Burns champion, who saw its string broken last year by Texas. Fourth-ranked Virginia is the highest ranked team in the field that includes No. 18 Texas A&M, No. 23 University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and No. 25 Kennesaw State.
The field is completed with Arizona; No. 46 Brigham Young University; Grand Canyon; University of Hawaii; the University of Hawaii-Hilo; No. 45 New Mexico; North Dakota State; Northern Colorado; Santa Clara; Utah; University of Texas, El Paso; No. 41 Washington; and Washington State.
Among the Kauai natives playing, Trevor Kua — a graduate of Kauai High School where he finished as a two-time Kauai Interscholastic Federation medalist — is among the roster for the Vulcans at UH-Hilo.
John Oda, a graduate from Moanalua High School on Oahu, is a junior with the UNLV Rebels who, in this third year (2016-17) touts an average of 71.38, the second in school history. His current World Amateur Golf Ranking is 32.
Tokioka, a senior for the Hawaii golf team, is coming off his best finish of the season with a 1-under 215 and a tie for 45th at the Amer Ari Invitational where UH placed 17th overall two weeks ago.
Salvador, a Kapaa High School graduate, has competed in three tournaments during his sophomore season for Hawaii.
During tournament play, participants will play a total of 54 holes over the three-day tournament at the 6,991-yard, Par 72 course. Starting time is 8:30 a.m. shotgun start on each day.
Last year, Texas held off California for the title with a team score of 844, five strokes ahead of the Cal Golden Bears who were looking to tie Oklahoma State for the tournament record of six wins.
Skye Inakoshi was among the four individual golfers who finished at 6-under 210 and were declared as co-champions, marking Hawaii’s first-ever medalist in the tournament’s history.
The John A. Burns Intercollegiate is considered the University of Hawaii’s premiere golf tournament, providing some of the nation’s top-ranking programs with the opportunity to compete against each other in the 50th state.
