David Laskin still jokes about what Tianlang Guan, his UA teammate, said to him at last year’s Arizona Intercollegiate tournament.
“In the final round we were driving up on 17 and I missed the green a little left. ‘Langly’ had just made a putt, and I looked at him and said, ‘I’m going to pull a ‘Langly’ and make this one,’” Laskin said. “He one-upped me by looking me dead in the eyes and said, ‘No, you’re going to pull an Arizona and we’re going to … win this thing.’”
One hole later, Arizona defeated Texas A&M, the No. 2-ranked program in the country, by two strokes.
Monday, the Wildcats will try to repeat as champions in their home tournament. Laskin, now a junior, will look to take another big step forward. Last year, he averaged a score of 72.8 per round — the third-best total on the team, tied with freshman phenom Trevor Werbylo.
Laskin and Werbylo will be asked to lead with George Cunningham, Arizona’s top individual performer from a year ago, now in the pros. Both golfers said they’re more focused on themselves as the season opens.
“I’m not really trying to fill George’s shoes because he is a really special player and it’s not often that guys like that come through a program,” Laskin said, “It was just nice to learn from him — he wasn’t the most outspoken person, but he was definitely a leader by example.”
Werbylo said he is thankful that he got to learn from such a poised player. But, like Laskin, he’s not worried about following in Cunningham’s footsteps.
“George was the guy that everyone looked up to. He set an example for us by the way he played, and his work ethic, and how he would perform on the bigger stages,” Werbylo said.
In the fall, both players garnered their best career finish to date. Laskin finished as the individual runner-up at the Huntsman Invitational in Driggs, Idaho, in September.
“It was just really nice for me to put together three solid rounds down the stretch and give myself the best possible chance to win,” Laskin said.
A month later, Werbylo stole the show and placed fifth at the Little Rock Invitational in Arkansas. He birdied 11 times in the tournament.
Now, both golfers will turn their attention to the spring season — and, they hope, a run at a national championship.
“With the team and coaches we’ve got,” Werbylo said, “I think we all believe it’s a very attainable goal.”
The Wildcats men watched first-hand last summer, as the UA women’s team — led by Haley Moore and Bianca Pagdanganan — captured the national title.
“We saw the girls’ team pull it off last year, and we’re around them enough to know that we want to do the same,” Laskin said.
Before they can do that, there’s business to take care of – starting Monday.
“We’re defending this week, so it’s important to us to win again,” Laskin said.
No rest — or rust — for Cats
Arizona last played on Nov. 7, but there shouldn’t be too much rust to shake off the clubs. Many of the Wildcats’ golfers take it upon themselves to train and compete back home during winter break. Most players visit their personal swing coaches and get in practice time at their familiar neighborhood courses.
Some players, like Laskin, went the extra mile during summer vacation. He played in tournaments in Atlanta; Sunnehanna, Pennsylvania; and Providence, Rhode Island; over a three-week stretch.
The constant competition kept Laskin on his toes, and ultimately paved the way to his best individual performance as a Wildcat when the fall schedule resumed in September.
Mental game
Laskin, despite his success, knows that golf is a game of constant improvement.
“I’d say it’s about 80-percent mental. If your mental game is even a little off, it can really derail your game,” Laskin said. “Golf is so challenging because you can go on a three-week stretch where you’re like, ‘Wow, how did I ever play bad?’ but at the same time you can also go on a three-week stretch where you’re like, ‘Man, how did I ever play good?’”
Players refer to this struggle as a slump or a rut, but it’s not always a bad thing.
That’s because every golfer experiences a letdown. The great ones simply have a knack for digging themselves out of the hole.
Laskin prefers to treat a downturn in performance as an opportunity to catch his opponents off guard.
“Usually if I’m in a slump I’ll just aim to keep it around par because if you’re playing solid golf and aren’t making a ton of mistakes, there’s a good chance to pick up shots against guys that maybe don’t know how to play in certain weather, or just struggle in adverse conditions,” Laskin said.
Werbylo, on the other hand, relies on his confidence ahead of tournaments to dictate his performance in clutch moments — but he also insists it’s possible to flip the switch whenever he needs to.
“If you’re playing well before a tournament you’re bound to perform well, but there’s also been times where I haven’t had much confidence entering a tournament and still end up competing with the top guys,” Werbylo said.
Aiming for the top spots
Laskin said he’s eager to get his first-ever collegiate win. He also wants to beat assistant coach Chris Nallen’s all-time season scoring average of 69.79, which Nallen set in 2004. Laskin needs to shave roughly three shots per round off last year’s average.
“I joke around with Chris, because I do want to break his scoring record at Arizona,” he said. “That’d just be cool to be able to leave my mark here.”
Werbylo, a Salpointe Catholic product, played in all 13 events as a freshman. He said it was a learning experience.
“There were times during my freshman year where I just felt overwhelmed by pressure...I don’t let the little things affect me as much now, and I think it’s made my game noticeably better,” he said.
