There is no hiding the struggles that the Arizona men’s golf team has endured so far this fall season. Their 93rd Golfweek Collegiate Team ranking says it all.

But although the team has been subpar thus far, they still have a chance to bounce back with a good performance at the Del Walker Invitational, held today and tomorrow in Long Beach, Calif.

“”The good news is that we’ve played bad, and we haven’t put ourselves out of it,”” said senior John Kostis. “”If we all just play how we should play we’ll be fine.””

The team has yet to play to their potential, as evidenced by their sixth and 10th place finishes. Although coach Rick LaRose’s team has yet to break out, they have nowhere to go but up.

“”We certainly haven’t played up to expectations yet, but I think the potential is there, so we’re going to go out and give it our best shot,”” LaRose said. “”We need to get better.””

The Wildcats hope to get back on track as All-American Tarquin MacManus is expected to regain his usual form. The Aussie, who posted 63s and 64s at times last season, currently boasts a mediocre 72.50 stroke average.

Although he is coming off an uncharacteristic four-over-par, 33rd-place finish, his talent and drive have coaches and players at ease.

“”He’s a good player. He’ll be fine,”” Kostis said. “”He always plays well when he needs to and he’s been playing well at practice.””

Kostis picked up the slack for MacManus in the team’s last tournament, finishing in a career-high seventh place. The team will look for Kostis, who played this course on several occasions last season, to continue his superb golf this weekend in Long Beach.

“”That’s the best tournament he’d ever played,”” LaRose said. “”He’s playing about as good as anyone right now.””

Helping Kostis and MacManus this weekend will be seniors Rich Saferian and Brad Nicholson, junior Jonathan Khan and freshman Stefan Cox.

The tournament format has a slightly different structure, as each team will run out six golfers instead of the usual five. The tournament will be played at the Virginia Country Club’s par-71 course in Long Beach.

The fall season has not exactly gone as planned and the team hopes to get back to the level of success that Arizona golf is accustomed to.

“”We need to go and try to get a win,”” LaRose said. “”We have been a little disappointing so far. We just haven’t had the play that we expected.””