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The Daily Wildcat

The Daily Wildcat

 

Men’s golf open 2015 with Arizona intercollegiate tournament

The Arizona men’s golf team will open the 2015 spring semester at home for the first time this season, as the Wildcats host the Arizona Intercollegiate Tournament at Sewailo Golf Club.

The Wildcats have struggled throughout the 2014-2015 season with a 14-34-1 (.292) record in head-to-head matchups and have yet to defeat a Pac-12 Conference opponent this season. Hosting a tournament to open the 2015 portion of the season is much needed for the Wildcats at this point.  

Third-year head coach Jim Anderson will seek his first tournament win at home since signing with the Wildcats in 2012. The Wildcats finished in second place behind Pac-12 rival Cal in the Arizona Intercollegiate Tournament last season.

The Wildcats finished the fall portion of the season on a high note by tying for ninth place in the Quail Valley Collegiate Invitational behind the efforts of Tucson natives senior Alex McMahon (6-under-par) and freshman George Cunningham (2-under-par) back in October of 2014. That was just the second time all season that Arizona has finished in the top 10 as a team for any tournament.

Both McMahon and Cunningham have finished at the top of every tournament this season on the Wildcats’ team other than the William H. Tucker Intercollegiate Tournament, when Cunningham finished in first place and McMahon finished fifth for the Wildcats.

McMahon and Cunningham lead the Wildcats and the duo adds versatility to the Wildcats youthful roster. With McMahon’s experience and Cunningham’s potential, the Wildcats have a one-two punch that can produce and improve at a consistent rate.  

In the 2014 portion of the season, the duo finished as the only Wildcats under 900 strokes, as Cunningham leads Arizona with 875 strokes and McMahon is right behind with 878 strokes. Cunningham also leads the Wildcats by averaging fewer than 73 strokes per round of 18.

Arizona will face instate rival ASU for the first time this season and hopes to add a win to the territorial cup standings before the Wildcats head up to Tempe in early April. The Wildcats have a tough road for the rest of the season, as they will have a few months of Pac-12 play before traveling to Pullman, Wash., to compete for a Pac-12 championship.

The 2015 Arizona Intercollegiate Tournament is an all-day event and will be from Monday to Tuesday at Sewailo Golf Club. Tee-time is at 8 a.m. 

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Follow Justin Spears on Twitter.

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