The University of Arizona men’s golf team finished third on the opening day of the Saint Mary’s Invitational. Playing three miles away from the famous Pebble Beach venue along the Pacific coast, the Wildcats shot a combined 296 (+12) on Monday, Oct. 24 at Poppy Hills Golf Course.

Hosts Saint Mary’s, Santa Clara and Oregon State are all tied for third place along with Arizona, which should lead to a compelling final two days of competition.

Juniors George Cunningham and Ethan Marcus matched their season-low scores to lead the way for the Wildcats.

“The course played challenging in certain spots, but I did a good job of sticking to my game plan.” Marcus said. His five birdies, including three consecutive on holes 10-12, led all Arizona golfers as he finished with a score of 73 (+2). The Wildcats had 14 birdies as a team.

After last week’s disappointing 12th out of 16 result at the Tavistock Invitational, head coach Jim Anderson wanted his team to regroup and focus on hitting the center of the greens.

“The team was very composed and competed all the way until the end. I think we can improve our speed on the greens tomorrow and our scores should improve,” said coach Anderson after day one. “We need to stick to our game plan and make aggressive swings at specific, conservative targets.”

Tucson native Cunningham posted a team-best 72 (+1) and ended tied for sixth place individually.

“I was playing pretty conservative today because the wind was making the course difficult,” Cunningham said. “I managed to hit a lot of fairways, which made my approach shots a lot easier into the firm greens.”

Cunningham also led the team with the same score last week at Tavistock in Windermere, Florida.

Junior Jordan Gumberg’s 75 (+4) was third best on the team. California natives junior David Laskin and senior Redford Bobbitt rounded out the squad’s score with a 76 (+5) and a 80 (+9), respectively.

Gonzaga and Fresno State finished tied for the lead with a 290 (+6) in the 14-school field. Oregon State and Washington State are the only other Pac-12 schools in the competition.

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The Wildcat’s tee off day two at 7:30 a.m. PST with temperatures expected to be in the mid 60s. The course conditions became more and more challenging through the first round of play, according to coach Anderson. There is no chance of rain in the forecast until Thursday after the tournament conclusion.

This is Arizona’s final tournament of the year as they’ll resume with the spring season Jan. 23.