Fresh off the team’s first win of the year in the Arizona Intercollegiate, the No. 22 Oregon men’s golf team will step up the competition level this week in the Amer Ari Invitational on Feb. 2-4.
After being one of just two ranked teams to compete in the Arizona Intercollegiate last month, the Ducks will contend against 10 teams ranked in the Golfweek Top-50, including three teams in the top seven. From the Pac-12 the Ducks will see the No. 6 Stanford Cardinal and No. 7  Southern California Trojans, No. 24 Colorado Buffaloes, No. 30 Arizona State Sun Devils, No. 38 UCLA Bruins and the Oregon State Beavers.
Outside the Pac-12, the Ducks will face No. 4 Oklahoma State, No. 7 Auburn, and No. 15 Texas Tech, No. 26 Georgia Tech and No. 48 St. Mary’s (Calif.). Additionally, the Ducks will see No. 11 Texas, whom the Ducks defeated to win the school’s first national championship last spring. San Jose State, TCU, UC Davis, Hawaii-Hilo, Pacific, Chico State, Hawaii, and Osaka Gakuin University are also competing in this event.
All five Ducks who were featured in Oregon’s first win of 2017 will again represent the team in this tournament. Newcomer Wyndham Clark led a trio of Ducks that finished in the top nine in the individual standings of the Arizona Intercollegiate on Jan. 23 and 24.
Clark, who transferred to Oregon after competing at Oklahoma State last year, took first individually, leading an Oregon team that won the event by 12 strokes over second place Pepperdine University. Heralded freshman Norman Xiong finished fourth overall at 1-under in his first competition for the Ducks. Edwin Yi scored a 4-over par, good for a tie of ninth place in Arizona. Sam Foust and Ryan Gronlund will round out the starting five for the team in Hawaii.
Nigel Lett, who golfed as an individual, tied for eighth place at 10-over at the Arizona Intercollegiate. Scores of golfers who golf as individuals don’t factor into team totals in tournaments. Lett will be joined by freshman Kevin Geniza as an individual golfer.
Follow Zak Laster: @zlast3445