KOHALA COAST, Hawaii — History was made in the Paradise of the Pacific as the Stanford men’s golf team broke a nearly two decades old record through the first round of action at the Amer Ari Invitational on Thursday. Stanford, which broke the program record for lowest round with a 27-under performance on the day, slots in second overall heading into the final two rounds.
The Cardinal broke the previous record for lowest round at a tournament by two strokes as all four scoring Cardinal birdied the final hole of the day, breaking the previous record of 25-under set in the first round at the 2010 Pac-10 Championships where the Cardinal shot a 25-under, 335 en route to a second place team finish.
Individually, the Cardinal smashed multiple personal records highlighted by Dean Greyserman’s 8-under, 64 card that saw the senior turn in the 13th best round by a Stanford golfer in the program’s history. Greyserman earned his 5th career round in the 60s and his best round of his career, surpassing his 4-under mark at the 2024 Prestige Indy by four shots. Having started the day with a blemish on the first hole, Greyserman was perfect for the remaining 17 holes, turning in nine birdies on the afternoon including his final one on 18 to end the day at fifth overall.
Following the senior, Jay Leng and Nathan Wang also had career rounds on the North Course with both golfers turning in 7-under, 65 cards. Leng, who amassed five of his eight birdies on the day in the back nine, set a new career low after going 6-under, 66 in the second round at last season’s outing at Mauna Lani. His 65 on Thursday is his 13th round in the 60s in his two year career at Stanford. The seasoned veteran Nathan Wang tied his collegiate best round on Thursday with a 7-under, 65 card, hitting the mark for the first time since the second round of the Western Intercollegiate last year where he went 5-under, 65 on a par-70. Thursday’s round was Wang’s ninth in the 60s as both he and Leng sit tied for ninth overall.
TK Chantananuwat and Edan Cui shot well for Stanford with the former turning in a 5-under, 67. Chantananuwat shot well along the front nine, amassing three of his six birdies including one on his final hole of the day that gave Stanford the team low round record. Chantananuwat sits in 23rd heading into Friday’s second round. Cui, however, had an up-and-down day as the reserve score for Stanford, slotting home five birdies and an eagle on the par-5 seventh hole to end the day at 2-under, 70. The freshman currently holds 60th heading into the second round.
Golfing as Stanford’s individual representative, Kush Arora made his tournament debut this season having appeared just under two weeks ago at the Vintage Club Shootout, taking a 3&2 win for the Cardinal as part of a 7-1 match play win over No. 31 Texas A&M. Arora nabbed three birdies and an eagle - the latter of which came on his final hole of the day - to finish at 1-over, 73.
Stanford heads back out to the course on Friday, February 6 for the second round of the 35th Amer Ari Invitational with a shotgun start slated for 9:30 a.m. PT / 7:30 a.m. local.