Like so many other golfers of every ability on the planet, Arizona freshman Zach Pollo is going to have his good days, and those that are end up proving a bit tougher.
The tough end of that equation came Monday, when Pollo shot a 6-over par 76 in the first round of the Western Intercollegiate in Santa Cruz, California. It also happened last month in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, when Pollo finished last out of the Wildcats’s entrants with a three-day total of 25-over par.
But the better side came in between those two events. That’s when Pollo became the first Wildcat freshman since 2004 to win a tournament when he tied for the individual title at the UA-hosted National Invitational Tournament, held last month at Omni Tucson National Golf Club.
Arizona coach Jim Anderson is confident he and those around the UA program will see much more of the latter from Pollo in the years to come.
“He’s got such a complete game, overall,” Anderson said. “I’m not surprised he was in this position and I’m very excited for him to have gotten over that hump at such a young age.”
Pollo shot 13 under through the three rounds of the N.I.T., finishing his final round with a 68, sharing the individual trophy with USC’s Jackson Rivera.
Like this week’s Western Intercollegiate, the N.I.T. field at Omni Tucson National was loaded with nationally-ranked programs and individuals.
And Pollo and the UA bested them all. Arizona won the tournament shooting a collective 24 under as a team, which was one shot better than Pepperdine. And Pollo was won the Pac-12’s men’s golfer of the week award after all was done.
“I was really proud of our team for the patience that we demonstrated all week,” Anderson said.
That was is the first time Arizona has won the N.I.T. since 2003 and made the 2023 season the team’s sixth straight winning a home tournament.
“For a while now, I’ve always dreamed of winning a college event,” Pollo said, “but I didn’t really ever go into any tournament expecting to win it because I feel like that’s something that comes to you if you play good enough.”
But just like this week at Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz, not everything has gone perfectly for Pollo throughout his freshmen season in Tucson. The week before his N.I.T. win, he finished 69th out of 79 individual golfers at the Cabo Intercollegiate. And although he climbed six spots in the overall standings from Monday to Tuesday of this week’s Western Intercollegiate, he’s still sixth among UA participants, good for a tie for 74th out of 92 individual golfers; the Northern California tournament’s scoring takes the top five individual scores from each program when aggregating the team score.
Pollo wasn’t deterred by his Cabo results, though, and it’s fair to assume he won’t be by his results in Santa Cruz even if he doesn’t climb back into contention as the tournament concludes Wednesday.
“I felt like I needed to prove myself with this win, in terms of trying to get back on track because the last one wasn’t one that I really want to remember,” Pollo said after the N.I.T. “I think to be able to come back the way I did I feel like I’m really proud of the way I did that.”
Through the Wildcats’ first four tournaments of the spring season, Pollo has finished eighth, second, and last and then first on the UA roster. Prior to the N.I.T., his best overall finish against the entire tournament field was 14th at the Jon Burns Intercollegiate in Hawaii in February.
Winning a tournament is, of course, difficult. Anderson said it takes a special player to be able to finish atop the leaderboard during their first season playing collegiate golf.
“I think he’s very similar to some of the top players we have had as freshmen. The difference now is he’s a winner,” Anderson said. “He works on his game incredibility hard, and he loves golf.”
Pollo isn’t the only early-career Wildcat that has a chance to compete for a spot atop the leaderboard — something that gives Arizona a chance to compete as a team both in the Pac-12 and on the national scene. Just this week, fellow freshman Filip Jakubcik was three shots off the pace at 5 under, tied for fifth place overall, after the opening round of the Western Intercollegiate. He fell a few shots after Tuesday, but enters the final round still tied for 12th overall. The field in Santa Cruz includes nine nationally-ranked teams; the Wildcats are a collective 12 over through two days and tied for 8th. Arizona is just three shots back of sixth-place UNLV, at 9-over par, but likely out of contention for a top 5 finish as all five at the top of the leaderboard are under par. No. 9 Pepperdine, who Arizona outlasted at the N.I.T. for the team title in Tucson, leads at 27 under after a torrid 22-under-par day as a team on Tuesday.
After this one, it’s a quick turnaround for the ASU Thunderbird Invitational at Papago Golf Course in Phoenix Friday and Saturday, and then back to Northern California for the Pac-12 Championships April 28-30.
“First year has been great,” Pollo said. “It’s all that I expected if not more.
“I know we’re not finished at all. We got a goal to win the championship,” he added. “And, you know, we’re in a pretty good position to make some noise and see what happens.”
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