Men's Golf Begins Title Quest at NCAA Championships
CARLSBAD, Calif. – Returning to the NCAA Championships for a second time in three seasons, No. 15 Arizona Men's Golf will begin its quest for a second national title in program history on Friday, May 24. The Wildcats will look to ride their momentum from their strong showing at the NCAA West Lafayette Regional that saw them finish 11 strokes ahead of the cut line.
"This weekend marks the beginning of our much-anticipated final chapter of the season," said head coach Jim Anderson. "We have trained, practiced and competed for eight months to get to this point, and this team knows what got us here. This week at Omni La Costa is about staying focused, attacking every pin and playing the high-level golf we've played throughout the year. There is a heightened level of excitement when you're competing for a national championship, and this group of guys are eager to get out there and execute our game plan. It will be an honor for me to go out and watch these guys compete and represent the University of Arizona."
This year's event marks Omni La Costa Spa & Resort's first of three years hosting the men's and women's golf NCAA championships in Southern California after a three-year run at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona. The NCAA's championship format is 30 teams competing over three days of stoke play before the field is cut down to the lowest 15 team scores for the fourth and final day of stroke play. The fourth day of action determines the individual NCAA champion while the top eight teams on the leaderboard move on to match play for the final two days.
The Wildcats will utilize the same lineup as their NCAA Regional in Indiana of Sam Sommerhauser, Tiger Christensen, Zach Pollo, Filip Jakubcik and Johnny Walker. Sommerhauser carded the team's lowest score last week at 2-under par, finishing tied for 14th. Christensen finished a stroke behind Sommerhauser for Arizona's second top-20 score. The trio of Christensen, Pollo and Jakubcik all earned All-Pac-12 Second Team honors for the Wildcats this season and combined to 11 top-10 finishes.
Arizona won three events during the regular season that included stroke play wins at the John A. Burns Intercollegiate and the Arizona Thunderbirds Intercollegiate. The Wildcats open the new year with a match play title at the Copper Cup in January, earning victories over UCLA and Arizona State.