The Wildcats are currently in paradise on the island of Kauai to compete in their first tournament since Jan. 30, and they currently sit at 8th place after the first day.
The ‘Cats, who are coming off a win at their home course two weeks ago, and traveled more than 3,000 miles over the Pacific Ocean to get to their next tournament, the John Burns Intercollegiate. The golfers started round one on Thursday, Feb. 15 and will have the final round of play on Saturday, Feb. 17.
Seven UA golfers made the trip over to Hawaii to test their skills on the beautiful Wailua Golf Course located on the coast of Kauai. Representing Arizona in group play will be senior George Cunningham, sophomores Brad Reeves and David Laksin along with freshmen Tianlang Guan and Trevor Werbylo. Junior Travis Fredborg and sophomore Briggs Duce will be playing individually for the Wildcats.
Arizona finished the first 18 holes of the tournament in eighth place. The team slipped a little bit on the leaderboard on the day, falling from fourth to eighth place by the end of 18.
Despite the Wildcats not being near the top of the leaderboard, they sit only five shots behind second place. Texas A&M sits in second place currently with a round one team score of -5. University of Nevada Las Vegas sits on an island in first place as they are an impressive -18 after round one.
Laskin highlighted round one for Arizona by placing tied for second place in the individual leaderboard. Laskin who competed in Hawaii as a freshman last year shot a 67 on the day, putting him just two strokes behind first place. Fredborg, Reeves and Werbylo are all tied for 34th place for the Wildcats with a round one score of 73. Tied for 46th is Arizona’s Brigg Deuce with a score of 74.
George Cunningham got off to a rough first round finishing tied for 61st. Cunningham bounced back last tournament after a rough first round to finish second in the individual category, so there’s no counting him out of the tournament just yet. Finally for the Wildcats, Guan finished tied for 69th. Before the tournament started, Arizona’s head coach talked about what it’s like to be playing in Hawaii.
“The John Burns Intercollegiate is a fantastic tournament and one our team looks forward to every spring. Our preparations leading up to the tournament will be fun and our guys always enjoy the tropics. That said, we also need to be able to turn attention to scoring on a great course in Wailua Golf Course” said Arizona head coach Jim Anderson to Arizona Athletics.
While it may seem hard to stay focused in paradise, the Arizona golfers look at the trip as strictly business.
“The confidence and competitiveness on our group has impressed the coaches and our goal is to execute the game plan on our tournament days while enjoying the process of preparation on the island” said coach Anderson to Arizona Athletics.
The Wildcats get ready for round two of the tournament tomorrow and look to bounce back after dropping to eighth place. Round two will start in Hawaii at 11 a.m. Stay tuned for more coverage of the tournament.
