PHOENIX, Ariz. – No. 9 Arizona Men’s Golf was able to complete 36 holes on Friday to open the Thunderbird Collegiate, shooting 10-under par and finishing in second place. Freshman Tianyi Xiong led the Wildcats with back-to-back rounds of 68 to end his day in a tie for second place at 6-under. Xiong’s consecutive 3-under rounds marked Arizona’s second-best rounds of the day behind a 66 in the morning from sophomore Zach Pollo.
“We came out playing lights out in the morning and got rolling, but we weren’t able to keep it going in the afternoon,” said head coach Jim Anderson. “Credit to Tianyi for his consistency and carding back-to-back great rounds. Leaving the course in second place today is a positive takeaway, but I know our guys are eager to get back out there and return to our morning form.”
The Wildcats finished the first two rounds with the second lowest scoring averages on Papago Golf Course’s par 3’s and par 5’s. Arizona was precise in taking on the 570-yard behemoth ninth hole, carding five birdies without a bogey.
Arizona will return to the course for Saturday’s final round with their work cut out for them to catch Arizona State, trailing by 13 strokes. The Wildcats hold a three-stroke edge over a pack of teams tied for third place.
Xiong and the two other golfers tied for second will look to make up three strokes on tournament leader Preston Summerhays from the Sun Devils. Sophomore Filip Jakubcik posted the Cats’ second lowest score on Friday and will return to the course in a tie for 14th at 2-under par.
Arizona will complete the Thunderbird Collegiate on Saturday with 18 holes before traveling to Santa Cruz, California to participate in the Western Intercollegiate at Pasatiempo Golf Club that begins on Monday on the Golf Channel.
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