UH’s Murata earns top-10 at Wailua

Tenth-ranked Texas A&M won the 44th John A. Burns Intercollegiate Saturday at Wailua Golf Course. Hawaii was 20th in the 21-team tournament, with Kotaro Murata the bright spot.

The freshman from Japan tied for seventh place. He shot 70 in the final round for a three-day total of 4-under-par 212. It was his second top-10 in as many starts this year.

The medalist was Sam Choi of New Mexico, who eagled the final hole to finish at 66—206.

It was Texas A&M’s third Burns title and second in three years. The Aggies shot 19-under 845, five strokes ahead of 40th-ranked New Mexico and 11 better than No. 15 Brigham Young. Hawaii shot 895, four shots ahead of last-place Northern Colorado.

Hawaii junior Justin Arcano finished in a tie for 67th highlighted by a second-round 71. He was followed by Kanata Irei (T103), Nickolaus Nelson (T113) and Trevor Hirata (121).

Cole Yoshida (T116), AJ Teraoka (119) and Justin Ngan (120) were non-scoring members of the team.

The Rainbow Warriors will tee it up next on March 13 in Phoenix, Ariz.

The Rainbow Wahine will host the 35th annual Dr. Donnis Thompson Invitational March 10-11 at Kaneohe Klipper.