For the fifth consecutive year, the University of Hawai’i men’s golf team will host the John A. Burns Intercollegiate at the Ocean Course at Hōkūala in Līhu’e, Kaua’i. This marks the 13th time in its 49-year history that Hawai’i will hold the event on Kaua’i.
The tournament is scheduled from Thursday, February 12 to Saturday, February 14. The John A. Burns Intercollegiate is recognized as one of the longest-running collegiate men’s golf tournaments and has been held on Kaua’i for the past 11 years. In 2022, it moved to Hōkūala after previously being played at Wailua Golf Course for seven years.
A total of 19 teams are set to compete this year, including San Diego State, currently ranked No. 21 nationally. Fifteen of these teams are ranked among the nation’s Top 100 collegiate programs. Other participating teams include BYU (No. 30), California (No. 79), Grand Canyon (No. 96), Long Beach State (No. 42), Loyola Marymount (No. 70), Missouri (No. 75), New Mexico (No. 19), Saint Mary’s (No. 64), Texas A&M (No. 34), UNLV (No. 38), Utah (No. 23), UTEP (No. 82) and Washington State (No.73).
This year’s field includes six previous champions with a combined total of twenty-two titles between them: California has won five times; UNLV five times; BYU four times; New Mexico three times; Texas A&M three times; and San Diego State and Utah have also captured titles.
Among individual competitors expected are Gabriel Palacios of Utah and Zach Little of UNLV, who were co-medalists last year at this event. Palacios is a former top junior golfer from Guatemala and was named a PING NCAA Division I All-American honorable mention in 2025; he enters as the tournament’s highest-ranked player at No.5 nationally. Last year, Little set a new course record with a second-round score of seven-under-par-63 on Hōkūala’s par-70 layout.
New Mexico leads all programs with seven individual medalists in tournament history.
The competition format consists of three days with participants playing eighteen holes each day for a total of fifty-four holes at Hōkūala’s par-72 course measuring over seven thousand yards, beginning daily with a shotgun start at nine o’clock in the morning.
The John A. Burns Intercollegiate was established in honor of John A.Burns, former Governor of Hawai’i, by then UH head coach Robert Takano in1977.Takano coached from1976–82and passed away in2022at age eighty-nine.
Reflecting on Burns’ legacy,the press release states,“This tournament reflects back to Burns,the political power who was really a ‘sportsman at heart.’”
Last week,Hawai’i opened its spring season at another event,the Amer Ari Intercollegiate,on Hawaii’s Big Island.Finishing twentieth overall,Hawai’i’s best performer was James Whitworth,tied for seventy-sixth place.Top golfer Anson Cabello did not participate due to injury.The upcoming John A.Burns Intercollegiate marks their fifth tournament this season.Live scoring will be available online via Scoreboard.Clippd.com.
