Men’s golf continues its struggles at Arizona

The UC Riverside men’s golf team finished in 11th place out of 12 teams at the Arizona National Golf Club as they played in the two-day Arizona Intercollegiate Tournament. The Highlanders continued their struggles into the new year as they also had placed 10th at their previous invite at the Bill Cullum Invitational. The final tally for the Highlanders after three rounds was 915 which was 16 strokes back of 10th place Utah and 26 strokes back of ninth place Santa Clara.

Meanwhile, Big West rival UC Irvine placed seventh in a tie with Central Arkansas at 883. The winner of the tournament was host Arizona with a score of 835. They barely edged out UC Berkeley’s 836 by one stroke. The individual winner of the tournament was New Mexico’s John Catlin who edged out host Arizona’s Juan Pablo Hernandez by three strokes.

At the end of round one, the Highlanders were doing great as they stood in the sixth position with a score of 295. Leading the squad after the first round was David Gazzolo with a score of 69.

The second round proved to be difficult for the Highlanders as they fell in the standings to 11th place overall with a score of 309, the lowest among all the teams in round two. Highlander Ryan Smith set the lowest score among the team with 75.  A total score of 604 after two rounds put the Highlanders second to last, and seven shots back of 10th place Utah.

In the final round, the Highlanders could not improve their play and tallied a score of 311 in the final round, giving them a total of 915 after three rounds of play. Gazzolo led the Highlander team with a total score of 224 as he placed 37th individually. Gazzolo had teammate Matt Fitzgerald just two strokes behind him as Fitzgerald finished the tournament with a score of 226.

The Highlander men’s golf team returns to action at the CSUF-hosted Folino Invitational on Feb. 19 in Industry, CA.