After 10 months off, the Arizona men’s golf team will be back in action Jan. 17-18 in the Inaugural Copper Cup against its rival Arizona State. The tournament will be played at the Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club in Maricopa County and will be a format similar to what we would see in the Ryder Cup full of four-ball matches and head-to-head singles matches. This format is going to be very similar to what the national championship will look like in a few months and having some experience with that format was important to head coach Jim Anderson.

“That’s exactly how the national championship will be and putting on the jerseys, uniforms and getting ready for our first competition, we are going to feel it, it’s going to be real,” Anderson said.  

While the Copper Cup doesn’t count for any national ranking, in a recent Zoom press conference with Anderson and senior golfer Trevor Werbylo, you can tell that winning is important and bragging rights are a real thing. This men’s team is full of experience. 

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“This is a very very deep team,” Anderson said. “They have a very clear vision of what we can do together this semester.” 

These players have played a ton of tournament golf and know what it is like to not only compete but to win. Before the shutdown last March, Arizona was ranked as high as No. 6 in the national rankings. 

“We are excited and motivated,” Werbylo said when asked how the team would gain back the momentum they had before the shutdown. 

It doesn’t sound like Anderson will have to break out his inner Herb Brooks and give this team a rousing pre-game speech. 

For Werbylo, he has remained active in the time off. Over the summer, he played in several big tournaments such as the Southern Amateur, Western Amateur and the U.S. Amateur. 

Werbylo has also been working hard on his game specifically on being more consistent with his irons. 

“While home, I worked a part-time job in the morning and was at the course in the afternoon,” Werbylo said.   

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