Citizen Staff Writer
ARIZONA WILDCATS GOLF
BRYAN LEE
brylee@tucsoncitizen.com
No roar on a blustery day left the University of Arizona men’s golf team Tuesday pretty much where it had been during the fall season: searching for an identity.
“We’re inconstantly consistent,” said coach Rick LaRose after the Wildcats finished sixth in their annual PING Invitational.
“We all play well on one day and poorly another.”
A 15-over par at home at Arizona National – 12 strokes behind winning Pepperdine’s 855 – won’t be placed in the “well” category.
Sophomore Wildcat Tarquin MacManus coaxed a tie for 13th place among individuals with a 2-over 215 after some misfirings Tuesday led to an even-par 72.
The medalist was Tennessee’s Chris Paisley, who finished at 12-under 201.
“I started out all right but had a triple (bogey) on six and 11, but I finished strog, birdie-birdie,” said MacManus. “The team had a chance to do something good but we all struggled.”
LaRose blamed the wind and his team not knowing what to do with it.
On the positive side, he may come out of the day with new hope as 2008 junior college player of the year Rich Sefarian made his Wildcat debut.
The Scottsdale Community College transfer, held up by a credit-transfer entanglement in the fall, shot 69 in the second round and was in top-10 contention until Arizona’s desert hazard “gotcha” No. 16 hole and the No. 18 water hazard.
Hitting out of the chaff onto the green on 16 and after two water drops on 18, he posted bogeys.
He ended up tied for 19th at 217 for the tournament.
“He hadn’t played in a tournament for quite a while,” LaRose said. “He’s a fighter and wants to win. We need some help.”
LaRose wants the consistent “stud muffin” who will carry a team in this day’s college game in which good players are in abundance.
The game requires consistency in staying around par or “you get killed,” according to the coach.
Wildcat golfers have trouble with wind