Fresh off their fourth consecutive win at the Arizona Intercollegiate, the Arizona men’s golf team will try to keep the momentum going at the Prestige Tournament starting Monday, Feb. 15, through Wednesday, Feb. 17. The Prestige will be played in La Quinta, California at PGA West.
Senior David Laskin is confident the team can keep their winning ways going into the tournament. The Prestige is stacked with high-level competition and a huge field of 24 different teams, including Pac-12 rivals Stanford, ASU, Cal, Colorado, Oregon, Oregon State, USC and UCLA.
“Taking this momentum from a win at home to a tournament with a really good field at The Prestige is hugely important,” Laskin said. “I think we are really hungry to get a win away from home.”
PGA West has six different golf courses and the tournament will be played on the Greg Norman Resort course. The Norman course has a layout similar to a desert-style course so that should set up well for Laskin and the entire team that has a ton of experience playing golf on that type of track.
“We kind of know what to expect a little bit, with the desert landscape and green complexes,” Laskin said. “I’ve played some Greg Norman style courses before, it’s usually a ball-strikers paradise.”
This team has a ton of experience and is mature, which is what head coach Jim Anderson loves about them. When asked what it’s like to coach this team, his answer was pretty straight forward.
“It’s really easy,” Anderson said. “They have created this culture. As coaches, [assistant head coach Chris Nallen] and I have to make sure we don’t become too loose. But in the game of golf, it’s really easy to be uptight and I’m an uptight person anyway, the guys will admit that. [Nallen] and I have to keep a mindful watch on the attitude and energy of our team but to be honest with you, coaching this team right now is very easy.”
The words “easy” and “golf” don’t often go together so hearing this from Anderson should get Wildcat fans excited for the team.
Following the Prestige, the team will get a little less than two weeks off before teeing back up again at the Cabo Collegiate starting Monday, March 1. The Cabo Collegiate will not be played in Cabo but instead at TPC San Antonio in San Antonio, Texas.
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