The course is 7,094 yards. But golf is still a game of inches.

The No. 28 Arizona men’s golf team is tied for fifth place after two rounds of play in the National Invitational Tournament at the OMNI Tucson National golf course. The Wildcats shot a 2-under 286 each round to give them a 4-under 572 total, eight strokes behind first-place No. 24 Tulsa.

“”We didn’t play very well as a team,”” UA head coach Rick LaRose said. “”We just didn’t play up to what I thought we were expected to play this week.””

Seniors Nathan Tyler and No. 33 Brian Prouty led Arizona, shooting a 4-under 140 each. They are tied for fourth individually, but could have been higher up on the leader board.

On the final hole of the day – a narrow fairway with two water hazards on either side – Tyler hit his ball into the water on the right and double-bogeyed on the par-4.

“”That’s one of the sins on this golf course,”” LaRose said. “”You can’t hit it in the right lake. You can hit it in the left lake and (at) worst you make (bogey). If you hit it in the right lake the best you make is (double-bogey).

“”That’s a critical error you can’t make, especially if you’re that close to the lead.””

Nonetheless, Tyler finished with 1-under in the second round.

Though his score didn’t show it, Prouty had many more problems.

In his 3-under 69 round, he missed many putts by just inches, causing him to bogey twice.

“”It’s amazing – oh my goodness,”” Prouty said. “”I was all over the lip of the hole all day.””

Prouty should have finished the day three or four shots better, LaRose said, citing his bogey on the 13th green, the “”easiest par-4 out here.””

Despite his three birdies and an eagle on the par-5 10th, LaRose said he would still like to see more birdies from Prouty.

“”I feel a lot better now that I got in and looked at the numbers,”” Prouty said after the second round. “”Out there I didn’t feel too good about it. I feel like I left a lot of shots out there.””

Seniors Josh Wilks and Josh Esler rounded off the scoring for the Wildcats, shooting 5-over and 2-over, respectively. Freshman Pedro Oriol (4-over) also competed.

The final 18 holes starts this morning at 7:30.

“”I’m really disappointed,”” LaRose said. “”I thought we could have shot 6- to 12-under (in each of the first two rounds), and we shot 2-under-par twice. Hopefully we can get out there and sink more birdies in the final 18.””