Competing at St. Andrews, the birthplace of golf, an 'unbelievable experience' for Arizona

Fresh off its win at the Windon Memorial Classic in Illinois two weeks ago, the Arizona Wildcats men’s golf team is heading across the pond to the birthplace of golf, St. Andrews Links Old Course, in Scotland for the St. Andrews Links Collegiate, a three-day event that starts Monday.

The Arizona women’s golf team, which won its first event under first-year head Giovana Maymon at the Folds of Honor Collegiate, will also participate in the St. Andrews Links Collegiate. 

The St. Andrews Links Collegiate, which will be televised on Golf Channel, is the final tournament for Arizona in the fall. Arizona men’s golf starts its spring schedule in late January at the Southwestern Invitational at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, California. The UA women’s team will tee off its spring schedule at the Therese Hession Regional Challenge at Palos Verdes Golf Club (California). 

UA men’s golf head coach Jim Anderson recently joined ESPN Tucson’s “Spears and Ali” to talk about the Wildcats’ recent success and their upcoming trip to Scotland. Here’s part of that conversation:

How do you reflect on Arizona’s most recent tournament triumph? 

A: “We had a big win … and it was a lot of fun and something the guys have been working extremely hard for. We got a great team coming back from last year that finished in the Top 15 at (NCAA championships), so we feel like we’re one of those teams to beat. … We got some very windy conditions the first 36 holes and even a little bit in the final round, but the guys handled it great and we came out on top at Conway Farms just north of Chicago.”

Tiger Christensen and Zach Pollo both finished the Windon Memorial Classic in the Top 3. How did they manage to have three solid rounds?

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A: “Zach came out hot, and he’s the workman of the group. He’s probably not the most outspoken or the guy people go to for vocal leadership, but he regularly logs great rounds for us. He doesn’t always get the shining star all the time, but he’s often times our second- or third-best performer on a great team. He opened up with a 5-under on a day where there weren’t more than three or four guys — it could’ve been six or eight — who shot under par, because the course wasn’t lending a lot of birdies. Bogeys were easy to be made because of the 20-plus miles per hour winds from (Hurricane Helene) that moved up to the middle part of the country. He handled it like a champ.

“Tiger has been rock-solid for a long time and he’s a star in the making with his golf. He just played the golf he’s used to play, stayed very patient. He posted three rounds under par to finish in second place.” 

How do you, as a coach, manage national championship expectations while also focusing on one event at a time? 

A: “It’s tough, because in golf, you try your best to remove all expectations. You could ask a PGA Tour player to talk about that. You run to it, you know about it, but if you get too far in front of yourself or focus on the hole or a week or two months ago, you can also run circles in the wrong direction. We try not to talk about expectations, performance or outcome, but we are a very close team and a competitive team. We know what it takes to compete against the teams we’re trying to — supposed to — and can — beat. Sometimes we coach them from a place where they have a chip on their shoulder. … In golf, nothing is ever given to you. There’s no guarantees you’re gonna get good bounces, and there’s adversity around every single corner and every single round. … We’ve been so good for so long, because we try not to allow emotions to drive decision-making when we play or when we prepare or assemble a team to travel.” 

After making the cut at the NCAA championships last season, how did that experience prepare Arizona for this season? 

A: “It was a great experience. … We made the cut and got the taste of that. Having two seniors and two juniors, along with other guys on the team that have been with us for a while, the experience and appetite to get back and improve on that is very high internally. It’s going to be up to us to continue to do the things we believe are the right things for us to position ourselves for that opportunity again. When we’re there, we have to remain focus on the task at hand. We can’t win whatever tournament we’re talking about on the first day. There are some things we have to recalibrate for. Overall, as a general mindset this year, there’s not one guy who doesn’t believe we can’t be the best team in the country.” 

What does a tournament at St. Andrew’s Links Old Course, also referred to as the “birthplace of golf,” do for your team?

A:  “This opportunity is something that came before us last year. … They’ve done an amazing job of providing the necessary resources to go there — almost entirely. It was a no-brainer for us to say yes. This is an unbelievable opportunity. You talk about team-building, you talk about lifetime memories, you talk about culture, experience and competitive environment, I think we’re checking so many of the boxes that we try to for our kids and student-athletes and give them life experience. … I’m quite confident we’re gonna make the most of this experience, play some great golf and come back with a lifetime of memories.”