This weekend the UA men’s golf team heads to Portland, Ore. to compete in the Nike Golf Collegiate Invitational. This week’s tournament features three days of play starting Sunday, Oct. 1 continuing until Tuesday, Oct. 3. Each team will participate in one round of play (18 holes) each day of the tournament.
Representing the Wildcats in Oregon will be senior George Cunningham, junior Travis Fredborg, sophomore David Laskin, sophomore Brad Reeves and freshman Trevor Werbylo. All five players competing this weekend were part of last week’s roster at the William H. Tucker Invitational in New Mexico that helped the ‘Cats finish third overall. The tournament is hosted at the Pumpkin Ridge-Witch Hollow Golf Club, which puts the ‘Cats back on the road for a second straight weekend.
“We are happy to get back on the road on a challenging golf course, the confidence our team picked up last week should help us at Pumpkin Ridge. The team has fed off one another’s positive energy and we feel like we can have a great week in Oregon,” Arizona head coach Jim Anderson said to Arizona Athletics.
Coming off a third place finish last week at the William H. Tucker Invitational, the Wildcats will look to continue their success this weekend.
“We know playing our best will require patience and composure, both of which we demonstrated last week in New Mexico, Pumpkin Ridge has hosted USGA events so we are expecting challenging set up. Nike hosts this tournament with its top programs and we are excited for the opportunity to be here,” Anderson said to Arizona Athletics.
The Wildcats will be teeing up against 14 other teams from around the nation including fellow Pac-12 members Oregon, Washington, Stanford and USC at the NCI Invitational. Arizona will have their hands full as eight teams competing this weekend are ranked in the NCAA top-25 for Division I golf.
The first round of the NCI Invitational started this morning with a 7 a.m. start time. After 15 holes of play in the first round Arizona is tied for 9th place with Washington and Texas. Sophomores Brad Reeves and David Laskin are tied for 22nd (-1 under par) in the individual category. The Wildcats will continue play Monday morning for the second round in Oregon.
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