Men’s golf tries to use last win as boost for Pac-10s
The No. 26 Arizona men’s golf team is in sunny Southern California, but the Wildcats are there on business, as the team competes in the 2006 Pacific 10 Conference Championships today through Wednesday at the Big Horn Country Club in Palm Desert, Calif.
The first round begins today with the first twosome teeing off at 7:30 a.m.
The other competitors include No. 3 UCLA, No. 7 ASU, No. 20 Southern California, No. 30 Washington, No. 40 Stanford, No. 88 Washington State, No. 99 California, No. 110 Oregon and No. 112 Oregon State.
Coming off a come-from-behind win at the ASU Thunderbird Invitational on April 9, when they climbed back from a 9-stroke deficit to win their first tournament of the season, the Wildcats are hoping that momentum will help jump-start Arizona into Pac-10 competition.
“”It’s really what the young guys are going to do, the freshmen,”” said junior Henry Liaw, who finished second at the Thunderbird Invitational and is the team’s most experienced player.
Liaw said that with every tournament that the team did not win or place high in, it just felt like the monkey got heavier on the team’s back.
The Wildcats will be looking to duplicate their run at the title like they did last season, when they finished in third place with a 1-under-par score that had them in contention.
The Wildcats last took the championships in 2004.
The course in Palm Desert is a par 71, 7,099-yard course. Each team will be made up of six golfers, and only the five lowest scores will count toward the final outcome.
Competing for the Wildcats will be Liaw, juniors Brian Prouty, Josh Esler and Nathan Tyler, sophomore Travis Esway and freshman Ben Fox.
Esway said that he would have seen the season going better so far but that the win at the ASU Thunderbird Invitational will give the team a little boost for the Pac-10s.
“”My goal individually is to win Pac-10s,”” Esway said.
Zwanck to lead Women’s Golf into Pac-10 Championships today
The Oro Valley Country Club will be invaded by women’s golf teams from every corner of the conference today through Wednesday for the Pacific 10 Conference Championships in Tucson.
The No. 19 Arizona women’s golf team will face a field that includes five opponents ranked in the Top 25: No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 ASU, No. 6 Southern California, No. 12 California and No. 21 Stanford.
But with two top-five tournament finishes already this season, at the Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational and the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown, and with freshman Adriana Zwanck coming off a career performance in Tempe, Arizona head coach Greg Allen said he thinks the added influence of home-field advantage will give the Wildcats the potential to stun their conference compatriots.
“”Getting the opportunity to play … in our hometown is exciting and will hopefully provide us an advantage,”” he said. “”If we play to our potential, then we will have a chance to come away with a victory.””
The Wildcats will start four freshmen, including Zwanck, who was nominated as Golf World’s female college player of the week for the week of March 28 through April 5. The honors were conveyed due to her first-place performance at the Ping/ASU Invitational in Tempe on March 31.
Although the Wildcats have relied heavily on their young players so far this season, such as Zwanck and her classmates Lauren Espinosa and Amanda Wilson, they have been able to place in the top 10 in six of their eight matches. The three freshmen are the most highly rated Wildcats, the only members of the team currently ranked in the top 100.
“”I think any time you depend so heavily on freshmen, like we’ve done this season, you are going to have ups and downs throughout the season,”” Allen said. “”Losing Lani (Elston-Marshall) at Christmas (to graduation) hurt us because we lost some senior leadership, but in adding Adriana (Zwanck), we gained a player that has won two out of her first five tournaments.””
