Arizona men’s golf returned to the course to compete in the Lamkin Gripps Classic this week. The Wildcats managed to finish in third place (four under par) giving the team yet another top three finish on the season.
The tournament, played on the San Diego Country Club down in Chula Vista, CA featured 54-holes of play over the course of two days. Senior George Cunningham and sophomore David Laskin both tied for 14th place with Cunningham shooting a final round score of three under par (69). The last round was the senior’s best round of the tournament who moved 14 spots up the leaderboard on the final day.
The ‘Cats continue to use the later rounds of the tournament to climb up the leaderboard. They entered day two of the tournament in fifth place and were able to rally behind each other and earn a top three spot on the leaderboard.
“We had another solid performance from our team this week. These kind of tournaments continue fueling this young team’s confidence and we believe more great weeks are ahead. We certainly have to improve, but like anything, we choose to take many positives from beating some quality opponents on a course set up for a challenge,” head coach Jim Anderson said to Arizona Athletics.
Also competing out in San Diego for the Wildcats was freshman Trevor Werbylo, sophomore Brad Reeves freshman Tianlang Guan, and junior Dylan Stein competed as an individual for the ‘Cats as well. Together, these golfers helped Arizona get their second third place finish in a row after placing third just two weeks ago in Tucson.
Werbylo used his second round score of 68 to place tied for 16th. Reeves also placed inside the top 25 with a tied for 22nd finish. Stein and Guan placed tied for 66th and 69th respectively to wrap up the tournament for the ‘Cats.
The men’s golf team is firing on all cylinders so far this season. The team has now recorded its fourth consecutive top five finish of the season, which is their most since the 2013-2014 season according to Arizona Athletics.
The Wildcats were once again able to prove their ability to score on a tough course against highly ranked opponents. The ‘Cats had to go up against Oklahoma State who took first place in the tournament with a score of 44 under par. Oklahoma Sate is also the No. 1 team in the nation according to Golfweek.com. No. 9 Texas Tech also competed in San Diego placing in second place.
The ‘Cats now have a week off from competitive play and will travel to Eugene, Oregon to compete in the Duck Invitational on March 26 and 27. Last year at the Duck Invitational the Wildcats placed in second place so they team looks to replicate that success in 2018.
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