The Arizona men’s golf team dug too deep a hole for itself at the Morgan Hill (Calif.) NCAA Regional. As such, the Wildcats will not be advancing to the upcoming NCAA Championships.
Arizona finished in a tie for eighth place at Morgan Hill after Wednesday’s third and final round at The Institute Golf Club. Only the top five finishers advance. Mississippi State won the regional, followed by BYU, Florida State, Baylor and Pepperdine.
The Wildcats were in 12th place after the first round and couldn’t make up enough ground on a long, difficult course (7,561 yards). Arizona finished at 25 over, 14 shots behind fifth-place Pepperdine.
“We are obviously disappointed in not making it to nationals, but this team accomplished plenty to be proud of this season,” UA coach Jim Anderson said in a news release. “Today also marks the end of some tremendous careers in our program, which we were able to recognize and celebrate as a team after the round.
“The goal of every season is to win a national championship, but we were able to achieve a lot of success this year. We have a lot of outstanding young golfers on this team, and I believe they will grow and develop from this season with a hunger to go even farther next season.”
Chase Sienkiewicz was the Wildcats’ highest individual finisher, tying for 20th place at 4 over after shooting rounds of 74, 72 and 74.
Elsewhere, Arizona State and Stanford finished 1-2 in the Las Vegas Regional to advance to the NCAA Championships, which begin May 26 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale.
