The men’s golf team wrapped up the Pacific 10 Conference Championships Wednesday afternoon in Seattle, Wash., and the finish for the Wildcats was far from what they had hoped for: a disappointing ninth place.
Despite shooting a score of 7-over-par 363 on Wednesday in the fourth and final round, a vast improvement from their first two rounds in which they shot a combined 29-over-par, the Wildcats didn’t have enough to push forward in the tournament. They posted what UA head coach Rick LaRose said was the team’s worst performance in 30 years.
With the exception of UA sophomore Tarquin MacManus, the rest of the team struggled throughout tournament play. MacManus finished the competition tied for sixth place overall with Paul Peterson of Oregon State. MacManus shot a 1-under-par 71 on the day finishing the tournament with a combined 3-under-par 285.
“”Tarquin has a little more talent (than the rest of the Arizona players) and he’s a little more competitive to tell the truth,”” LaRose said. “”He expects to do well, and he did.””
UA sophomore Rich Saferian reeled in the next-best score for the Wildcats after concluding the tournament with a 3-under-par final round, which was only good enough to take 30th overall.
Arizona didn’t have a great shot at taking this year’s conference title as the host school Washington took first place after finishing the tournament with a combined 16-under-par performance.
“”Unfortunately we hit a few bumps in the road, and in our sport you can’t call a timeout. You have to live with it,”” LaRose said. “”Everyone was out there playing their hearts out, though. A couple guys just couldn’t get it done.””
Arizona will now shift its focus to regional conference play in the coming weeks, and will most likely look to redefine its lineup, LaRose said Tuesday.
In order to come out on top though, he said the Wildcats must utilize the skills of a well-rounded team effort, and not solely rely on the strength of MacManus.
“”At regionals we only have to count five scores instead of six,”” LaRose said, “”so that should really help our depth.””
