CARLSBAD, Calif. – The scoring conditions were more difficult for Sunday’s third round of the NCAA Men’s Golf Championship, but Arizona was able to remain steady throughout the round and post a team score of 284 (-4) to move up into a tie for fourth place at 8-under overall for the tournament.
Only the top 15 teams at the end of Sunday’s round will advance to the final round of stroke play on Monday, where the individual national champion will be crowned. The Wildcats will look to remain inside the top eight spots on the team leaderboard at the end of Monday’s round in order to advance to the match play portion of the championship.
Arizona will be looking to advance to the match play portion of the championship for the first time since the NCAA instituted it in 2009.
“It was great to have all five guys right there pretty much the entire round, and we got there in different ways,” said Arizona head coach Jim Anderson. “Taishi (Moto) dug out from being 3-over after two holes and a couple guys were under par and then gave up a few. But any time you have five guys at par or better at the national championship, that’s a pretty good recipe for a good round.”
Auburn is leading the team standings at 22-under par while Texas is in second place at 19-under par through 54 holes. Vanderbilt is third at 9-under par and then Arizona, UCLA and Oklahoma State are all tied for fourth at 8-under par.
Filip Jakubcik, who entered Sunday’s round with a two-stroke lead on the field, posted an even par round of 72. He is now tied for second place individually at 10-under par, just one shot behind Oklahoma State’s Preston Stout.
“My golf wasn’t as great as the first two days, but it felt more difficult out there,” Jakubcik said. “The pin locations were a bit tougher and it got pretty windy in the afternoon, which impacted some shots. Overall, I think it was a solid round. I couldn’t have asked for a much better round in round three and I’m super excited for tomorrow.”
Leading the way for Arizona in the third round was junior Tianyi Xiong, who had his iron game working early in the round. He was able to hit it close on holes 3, 4 and 5 and finished with birdie on each hole. After making the turn at 2-under par, he recorded par on the first eight holes of the back nine before another close approach shot left a tap-in birdie on 18 to close the day at 3-under par (69) and get back to even par for the tournament and a tie for 47th individually.
Zach Pollo’s third round started with a bogey on the second hole before birdies on holes 3, 5 and 6 put him at 2-under par for the day. A double bogey on the seventh hole brought him back to even and then he played the final 11 holes of the day in 1-under to post a 71. He is 1-under for the tournament and tied for 32nd.
Both William Wistrand and Taishi Moto joined Jakubcik at even par for the day, but they were eventful days for both. Wistrand rattled off four straight birdies on holes 4-7 and made the turn at 2-under. He is even par for the tournament and tied for 66th.
Moto’s day began with a bogey on the first hole and a double-bogey on the second hole. But he rebounded nicely with birdies on four, eight and 10 to get back to even on the day. Then he closed with two birdies and two bogeys over the final five holes to finish at even and remain at 10-over par for the tournament.
The Wildcats will tee off hole No. 1 at 11:25 a.m. PT on Monday, playing alongside UCLA and Oklahoma State.
Live hole-by-hole scoring is available at scoreboard.clippd.com while a live coverage of the final round of stroke play begins on the Golf Channel at 2:30 p.m. MST.
