Arizona State remains red-hot at the Amer Ari Invitational

Arizona State is embracing its status as the top-ranked team in the nation as the Sun Devils sit atop the leaderboard after the opening round of the Amer Ari Invitational being held at the Hapuna Golf Course on the Big Island in Waimea, Haw.

Fresh off their 13-stroke win at last week's Southwestern Invitational, the Sun Devils picked up right where they left off at North Ranch Country Club, blitzing the par-72 6,875 Hapuna layout with a 20-under par score of 268 on Thursday to open a five-shot lead over No. 5 Oklahoma State, No. 9 Texas Tech and Washington.

No. 18 Georgia Tech (-14), No. 6 Stanford (-12) and No. 2 Pepperdine (-10) are also comfortably in the red after the first 18 holes.

Arizona State is ahead of its pace from a year ago when they won this tournament with a 37-under score of 827. With their 20-under round today, the Sun Devils are now 50-under par for their last four rounds dating back to last week's Southwestern Invitational, which they won with a 30-under par score of 834.

Two Sun Devils - Mason Andersen and James Leow -- are tied for the individual lead at 7-under after carding opening rounds of 65.

The Sun Devils also counted a 66 from Preston Summerhays, a 68 from Cameron Sisk and a 69 from Ryggs Johnston while having the luxury of tossing out an even-par 72 from David Puig.

Summerhays, Thomas Hutchison of UC Davis and Baard Skogen of Texas Tech are just one off the pace after all three golfers turned in rounds of 66 on Thursday. A total of 20 golfers are within three strokes of the lead.

The Amer Ari Invitational will continue through Saturday at Hapuna Golf Course.