CARLSBAD, Calif. – The Arizona men's golf team opened the 2026 NCAA Championship on Friday with a steady round of 1-under par 287, which is good for a four-way tie for sixth place after 18 holes at Omni La Costa Resort and Spa.
Senior
Filip Jakubcik paced the Wildcats with a sparking round of 68 that included six birdies and two bogeys. He is 4-under par and tied for fifth place individually following his 12
th round in the 60s this season.
The Wildcats entered the tournament as the No. 11 seed out of the 30 teams competing and put themselves in position to contend the rest of the week.
Another senior,
Zach Pollo, birdied his first hole and nearly made a hole-in-one on the par 3 16
th hole on his way to an even par round of 72.
Tianyi Xiong was 2-under through his first four holes before back-to-back bogeys on 14 and 15, brought him back to even par for his round.
The fourth score that counted on Friday belonged to freshman
William Wistrand, who got off to a tough start with bogeys on two of his first three holes. But he rebounded with a birdie on the sixth hole before two bogeys on the back nine saw him post a score 3-over par 73.
Taishi Moto's round of 79 did not count towards the team score.
UCLA is leading the tournament after one round, posting a team score of 8-under par 270 on Friday. Only nine of the 30 teams broke par on their first round
The Wildcats will tee off hole No. 10 at 7:47 a.m. PT on Saturday.
Live hole-by-hole scoring is available at
scoreboard.clippd.com while a live video stream will begin at 11:00 a.m. PT on
babygrandegolf.com. The video stream is free after creating an account with Babygrande Golf.
