NAWILIWILI — Brigham Young University took the lead with a 15-under par following the opening round of the 46th John Burns Intercollegiate tournament at the Ocean Course at Hokuala.
Fueling the BYU lead, golfers David Timmins and Keanu Akina both finished with 6-under par 66s on Thursday.
Tom Freestone, the PGA Golf Professional at Hokuala said the idea was to get in as much golf as possible, Thursday when the sun was shining in near-perfect golf conditions.
The tournament is being threatened with foul weather on Friday with flood advisories and warnings being posted around the state due to the kona low storm impacting the eastern part of the Hawaiian Islands.
BYU’s team 273 is three strokes better than Long Beach State, whose Ian Gilligan’s 61 and Isaac Rodea’s 1-under 71 powered the team’s 276.
California, leading with Sampson Zheng firing a 65, and last year’s defending individualist Aaron Du finished
Round 1 with a 3-under 69, sits in third place a stroke back of Long Beach State.
New Mexico, the defending team champion from the 2022 John Burns, is tied for fifth place with a team 282 following Round 1 powered by Bastien Amat with a 66, and Brandon Shong with a 70.
The tournament’s host, University of Hawai‘i men’s golf team, is tied for 13th place following Round 1, where the Rainbows were led by Atsuya Oishi and Tyler Ogawa, each finishing with 70.
With favorable weather on the Ocean Course, Round 2 got underway on Thursday and play continues on the 54-hole tournament that is scheduled to end Saturday.
Twenty-one teams from nine states are participating in the tournament, whose final day start is a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m., Saturday.
The John Burns Intercollegiate is named in honor of the state’s former governor, and allows America’s top-ranked golf programs to compete against each other in the Aloha State.
Some of the notable Burns’ individual champions, who have won on the PGA Tour, include Steve Pate, playing for UCLA in 1983, Notah Begay, playing for Stanford in 1995, Tiger Woods, playing for Stanford in 1996, Bo Van Pelt, playing for Oklahoma State in 1997, and Ryan Moore, playing for UNLV in 2005.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer can be reached at 808-245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
