Arizona men’s golf teed off Monday for the 2015 Pac-12 Championships in Pullman, Wash., hosted by Washington State.
The Wildcats were looking to match the women’s team that won the Pac-12 Championships last week but ended up finishing in ninth place at 46-over-par.
Arizona has had a quiet last couple of weeks, even with the regular season’s end and championship’s approach.
The Wildcats haven’t had the same amount of success this season as women’s golf. The Wildcats were looking to become the dark horse in the respected conference, but the task of finishing atop of the Pac-12 Conference proved too much to accomplish.
Like the women’s team, the men competed in arguably the best conference in golf, considering there are seven teams ranked in the top 25. Those teams include No. 4 ASU, No. 8 Oregon, No. 13 Stanford, No. 14 Washington, No. 15 UCLA, No. 16 USC and No. 25 California.
The first day of the Pac-12 Championships was a forgettable day for the Wildcats, as Arizona finished the first two rounds in 10th place and shot 736 total strokes (+36) as a team.
Arizona used the young lineup of freshman George Cunningham at the one spot with senior Alex McMahon, redshirt freshman Jacob Kreuz, senior Brenden Redfern, freshman Max Donohue and freshman Peter Koo rounding out the rest of the lineup.
This was the first time competing in the Pac-12 Championships for a handful of the Wildcat players. The Wildcats were led by Cunningham, who made his debut by posting scores of 71 (+1) and a 70 (E) in the first and second round. Cunningham would go on to share 14th place after Wednesday’s conclusion.
Cunningham had a field day on the par-3 holes, shooting 1-under-par over the course of 10 holes at Palouse Ridge Golf Club.
Even though golf is an individual sport, the scores posted by other teammates play into the overall score. Cunningham would be the only Wildcat to finish in the top 20, and the only other Wildcats to come close to cracking the top 20 were Kreuz (+10) in 34th place and Redfern (+14) in 44th place.
The Wildcats never picked up the pace on Tuesday or Wednesday while Cunningham picked up where he left off, shooting scores of 2-under-par and 3-under-par and finishing the tournament tied for third with an overall score of 276 (-4).
Cunningham also made an eagle on the 18th hole of the third round.
Kreuz came in second place amongst Arizona players by shooting a 10-over-par, while Redfern was in third place amongst the Wildcats with 294 total strokes (+14).
With Arizona falling in the bottom half of the Pac-12 Championships, postseason play for the Wildcats will be a question. However, head coach Jim Anderson will only lose McMahon and Redfern next season while returning a promising group of underclassmen in Cunningham, Koo, Donohue and Kreuz.
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