Record-Breaking Start Marks Arizona's First Day at Pac-12's

SANTA ROSA, Calif. – A historic performance in the first of Monday's two rounds of action at the Pac-12 Championships propelled No. 21 Arizona Men's Golf to join Arizona State in a breakaway from the rest of the pack. The Wildcats finished Monday at 24-under par and in second place behind the Sun Devils by one stroke heading into Tuesday's third round. Arizona's 16-under par performance in round one was the lowest single round score at the conference championships in program history, breaking the previous record of 14-under par during the 1984 Pac-10 Championships.

"We came out ready to play and our first round set a great tone for the day," said head coach Jim Anderson. "We did a great job of staying patient in the afternoon and put up a solid score as a team. Tomorrow, we will do more of the same while making a few adjustments and cleaning up a few mistakes. We drove the ball very well today as a team, and we put ourselves in good positions on the greens."

Arizona's blistering opening round saw the entire lineup combined to sink 24 birdies and three eagles as senior Brad Reeves posted the team's best score for round one at 6-under par. Fellow senior David Laskin shot the Wildcats' lowest score in the second round at 4-under par. The Cats' second round also saw 24 birdies and four eagle putts sank as the team went shot for shot with Arizona State throughout the second day to pull ahead of third place, Oregon, by nine strokes.

The senior tandem of Reeves (T-3rd, 7-under) and Trevor Werbylo (T-5th, 6-under) gave Arizona two players in the top five of the leaderboards while Chase Sienkiewicz, Christian Banke and Briggs Duce all broke par to give the program five players in the top 20 of the individual leaderboards.

The Wildcats' seven eagles on the day were the most in the field, besting Stanford's eagle output by three. Arizona was also dominant on the course's par-4's, compiling a 6-under score that was 14 strokes better than second-place California in par-4 scoring.

Tuesday will be the third round of the three-day event at Mayacama Golf Club as the Pac-12 Conference will crown its next Men's Golf champion.