Blame it on the rain. The No. 38 Arizona men’s golf team slipped yesterday in the Omni National Invitational, coming into the third round in third place, but falling to a seventh place tournament finish by the end of the day.with a score of 3-over-par.

Coming away with the win was No. 5 UCLA, who shot a 14-under-par three-round score of 850. No. 9 ASU shot the second best three-round score, finishing seven shots behind UCLA at 7-under-par, with a combined three-round score of 857. Also in front of the Wildcats was No. 23 Minnesota at 3-under-par, No. 45 Texas Christian at 1-under-par, No. 32 Southern California at even par and No. 15 Tulsa at 1-over-par.

The Arizona ‘B’ team finished just behind the’A’ team in ninth place with a 7-over-par score. Arizona’s top finisher was redshirt sophomore Billy Whalen, who competed as an individual for the event. Whalen shot even par or better for each of his rounds to bring him to a 3-under-par score for the tournament.

Junior Henry Liaw was the top finisher for those competing for the ‘A’ team, tying for 16th place with a three-round combined score of 215, 1-under-par. Freshman Ben Fox and sophomore Trey Denton, competing for the Arizona ‘B’ team, tied for 23rd place, firing even par for the event.

Juniors Josh Esler and Brian Prouty tied for 28th place overall with a three-round score of 217, 1-over-par.

First place for the tournament went to New Mexico senior Jay Choi, who shot a 6-under-par 210 over the three rounds.

The Wildcats will take to the course again April 8-9 when they travel to Tempe for the ASU Thunderbird Invitational.