In its final preseason tournament, the Arizona men’s golf team finished fifth at the Lone Star Invitational in San Antonio, Texas, on Tuesday.
Many Wildcats were suffering from flu-like symptoms and eight were forced to withdraw from the competition. However, it didn’t stop the UA from finishing the tournament with its strongest round as a team so far.
On the final day, Arizona shot a 289 (one over par), giving the team a final score of 886 (22 over par) for the tournament. Entering round three the Wildcats were sitting in eighth and had shot a 300 (12 over par) in the round prior.
“Our last round was one of our best rounds of the preseason,” head coach Jim Anderson said.
Arizona finished 20 shots behind Houston, who won the tournament with a score of 866 (two over par).
Junior Erik Oja and senior Trent Redfern led the Wildcats in the final round by shooting scores of 71.
Oja was one of the Wildcats plagued with the flu and he checked into the emergency room a few hours before the final round.
Oja returned to the tournament to finish in a tie for ninth with a final score of 217 (one over par) and finished five shots behind Rodolfo Cazaubon, of North Texas, who earned a first place finish by shooting 212 (four under par). This was Oja’s second top-10 finish on the year.
Redfern shot a final score of 221 (five over par), earning a tie for 19th place in the tournament. This is the second time this year Redfern has finished in the top-20.
“My game right now is solid,” Redfern said. “As a team I don’t think we met our expectations. We have so much potential and I know we were the best team out there, but the team is slowly getting better which is most important.”
Along with Oja and Redfern, freshman Dylan Healey and sophomores Brenden Redfern and Alex McMahon finished 19th, 51st and 54th respectively.
“I didn’t shoot as good as I’d liked,” Brenden Redfern said. “And we all wanted to do better, but the team got better everyday which is great, especially going into the two month break before the regular season begins. ”
