Another part of preparing for a career in professional golf is understanding the challenges that come with a life on the road: the travel, adjustment to time zone changes, and other issues encountered in the global game played today.
Auburn’s Johnson, whose team travels to Hawai‘i Island from Auburn, Alabama, feels the Amer Ari provides a good glimpse of those challenges. “The Amer Ari definitely gives you a taste of the Tour,” he says, “meaning that you have to travel a little bit more than usual to play and you have to deal with jet lag. It is really important there to catch up on your sleep.”
But he also says participating in the tournament has been one of his best college experiences: “Playing in the Amer Ari has been a blast since my sophomore year. It is such a fun tournament with one of the best fields in college golf.”
Of course not every player, regardless of their collegiate success, is set on a career on the PGA Tour. The number three-ranked player in men’s college golf, Maverick McNealy of Stanford University, says, “To be honest, I am not sure. All I know is that, for the next year and a half, I am going to work as hard as I can to get my degree (in Management Science and Engineering), improve as much as possible, and play the best golf that I possibly can.”
McNealy says his biggest motivator is improvement. “One of the most rewarding things for me in life is getting better at something. My freshman year, I finished tied for 90th (+4) at the Amer Ari, and last year I finished tied for 2nd (-15). To me, that improvement was even more satisfying than winning the tournament.”
To that end, whether they end up playing on the PGA Tour or not, the game of golf, along with the experiences that tournaments such as the Amer Ari provide, go a long way in preparing a young person for whatever life has to offer.
The annual Amer Ari Intercollegiate golf tournament will take place at The Kings’ Course at Waikoloa Beach Resort on February 4-6, 2016. The host team is UHHilo, coached by Earl Tamiya, with 18 schools competing. The event is free and open to the public, with teams teeing off at 7:30 am each morning.
Photo: Auburn’s Michael Johnson