Christensen Paces Wildcats in Strong Opening Round of Year

GRAND HAVEN, Mich. – Returning to the American Dunes Golf Club where a Wildcat broke a course record in a year ago, No. 19 Arizona Men’s Golf found its form in its first round of the season at the Folds of Honor Collegiate. Junior Tiger Christensen fired a 2-under round of 69 to push the Wildcats into second place at 1-under in the opening round of the event. Christensen’s 2-under performance was one of only two scorecards to break 70 in the morning groups as he finished in a five-way tied for fifth place by day’s end.

“Today was a terrific way to start our season as we were able to execute our game plan for American Dunes pretty well,” said head coach Jim Anderson. “Hats off to Tiger and Filip for both breaking par to lead the charge for our team. We will make a couple of small adjustment on a couple of holes, but I am excited to see us go right back out there and post more great scores tomorrow.”

After beginning the day with a bogey on the 370-yard, par-4, Christensen would rattle off 16 consecutive holes of par or better. He birded a hole on the front and back nine as well as chip in for eagle on par-5, sixth hole. His round of 69 on Monday was two strokes shy of former teammate Chase Sienkeiwcz’s course record of 67 recorded in the final round of the 2022 edition of the Folds of Honor Collegiate.

 

0?? putt ?? from Tiger Christensen on ?? No. 6 puts him into 1st at 2-under at @FoldsofHonor.

??: https://t.co/KJNwH4S72Q#BearDown pic.twitter.com/qFnBgTjmhl

— Arizona Men’s Golf (@ArizonaMGolf) September 4, 2023

Filip Jakubcik finished a stroke behind Christensen with an opening round of 70, which placed him in a tie for tenth on the leaderboard. The sophomore was one stroke under par on the front nine after sinking birdies on both of the technical par-3’s.

Arizona was strong on all challenges presented by America Dunes, finishing Monday’s first round in the top four in par-3, par-4 and par-5 scoring. The Wildcats tallied a pair of eagles with freshman Tony Xiong burying an eagle putt on the 18^th hole after Christensen’s chip in for eagle on the sixth.

Christensen and Jakubcik are joined by Sam Sommerhauser and Yannick Malik in the top 20 of the leaderboards after the opening round of the Folds of Honor event. Arizona, as a team, enters Tuesday’s second round one stroke behind first-place South…