The Arizona men’s golf team had to wait more than 30 minutes to hear its name called during the NCAA selection show Wednesday, but boy was it worth it.
Arizona is staying west as a No. 4 seed, playing in the Morgan Hill Regional of the NCAA Tournament, which starts on May 15.
Staying in the same time zone is a big advantage.
Another is having played a few times in Northern California over the past month — at the Pac-12 Championships and Western Collegiate at Santa Cruz last month.
That’s not to say Arizona’s draw will be an easy one. The top seed in the regional is Pepperdine, which won it all in 2021 and is currently ranked 11th. The No. 2 seed is Florida State (sixth in the nation) and the No. 3 seed is Mississippi State (20th). Arizona was ranked No. 19 this week heading into the NCAA Tournament.
Rounding out the spots in the regional are Louisville, Baylor, Missouri, Houston, BYU, North Carolina State, Cal, Charlotte, Grand Canyon and Northern Colorado.
This marks the 34th time that UA has played in the NCAA Tournament, with the Wildcats’ one title coming in 1992 when they beat a Phil Mickelson-led ASU squad. The Wildcats have finished in third four times and finished tied for 19th last season.
Last year’s runner-up, rival ASU, is the No. 1 seed in the Las Vegas Regional, with Stanford at No. 2.
The Wildcats were on a roll with a first-place finish (N.I.T.), three second-place finishes (Thunderbird Collegiate, John Burns Intercollegiate and The Arizona Thunderbirds Intercollegiate), then lost a little momentum in the Pac-12 Championships, finishing seventh with a tough final round, carding a plus-14.
Chase Sienkiewicz tied for eighth in the Pac-12s, and the senior was mentioned on the NCAA selection show as “an extremely good player” who needs to step up to take the lead for the Wildcats to make run in the postseason. Freshman Zach Pollo was also mentioned as a “talented” piece during the Golf Channel broadcast.
Teams will play 54 holes over three days, with the top five teams in each region advancing to the NCAA Championships May 26-31 in Scottsdale.
