Arizona’s Tyler Neal finished two shots behind individual-leader Nate Page of Southern

Utah to finish second at the Braveheart Classic Tuesday in Beaumont, Calif. As a team, Arizona finished third despite horrific weather conditions on Monday.

“”We had a tough afternoon and the course played very hard and we shot a mediocre round (Monday),”” said UA head coach Rick LaRose. “”Everybody hung in there and they tried real hard, grounded it out, and it could’ve been a horrible day.””

Despite the cold, windy, rainy day, the Wildcats managed to finish third after finishing the first two rounds of the competition in sixth place.

“”We played decent (Tuesday) and played good enough to win,”” LaRose said. “”We made a few mistakes but we made a good comeback.””

Neal’s score of 68 on Tuesday helped the Wildcats maintain their third-place lead over Loyola Marymount and Cal Poly. However, Neal had a few issues with his putter, which possibly set Arizona back.

“”I’m still pretty upset that I three-putted three times,”” Neal said. “”I tried to work hard not making those silly mistakes, costing myself and the team stokes, and it’s upsetting that if I wouldn’t have had any three-puts today I would’ve won the golf tournament and we would’ve gotten second.””

Oregon maintained its lead from Monday’s first two rounds of play to finish in first place with a score of 875, followed by Southern Utah’s 882.

The Wildcats will travel to Las Vegas from March 13-15 for the Southern Highlands Collegiate Championship. That particular tournament, LaRose said, will feature the top 15 teams in the country and will be the biggest tournament of the spring.

“”It will be a good test to see where we stand,”” Neal said. “”Some of those guys are contending for national championship. We’re looking forward to and excited to see how we stack up against them.””