Arizona men’s golf team finished in second at the Arizona Intercollegiate after shooting a 287 in the third and final round on Tuesday.

The Wildcats ended the second round on Monday sitting in a tie for fourth place. Arizona shot a 290 and 291 in the first two rounds, but another strong performance by Kolton Lapa and Erik Oja allowed the team to leap ahead.

Lapa went into the third round in third place and managed to end the tournament tied for the third-best individual score, shooting an even 212 over the three rounds.

Oja’s third round score of 0 helped him finish the tournament three shots over par and with a total score of 216. Oja entered the third round in a tie for 15th, but after Tuesday’s strong performance, he was bumped up to eighth.

Two of the other three Arizona golfers competing in the team event also improved on their first two round scores. In the third round, Alex McMahon went from 23rd to 17th place, and Brenden Redfern went from 28th to 23rd.

The unranked Wildcats got some needed help as No. 24 USC fell apart in the final round. The Trojans ended the second round in first place but shot 20 strokes over par to finish the tournament in fourth place.

USC’s Anthony Paolucci was in first place of the individual scores after Monday. However, Paolucci shot eight shots over par on the final round to fall into a tie for fifth.

No. 3 California reaped the most from the Trojans’ failures. The Golden Bears went from second to first in the final round and 15 strokes ahead of the second-place Wildcats.

California’s Brandon Hagy and Joel Stalter tied for first with an overall score of two shots below par.
Arizona’s next tournament is from Feb. 19-21 at the John Burns Invitational in Hawaii

—Follow Luke Della @LukeDella