CARLSBAD, Calif. – For the first time since the NCAA added match play to the championship format in 2009, the Arizona men's golf team has advanced to match play following Monday's final round of stroke play at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa.
 
The Wildcats posted a team score of 293 (+5) to finish the tournament with a total score of 1149, which was good for sole possession of sixth place and one stroke ahead of a four-way tie for seventh place that led to a playoff.
 
On Tuesday, Arizona will take on Vanderbilt, who finished stroke play at 12-under par. The first tee time is 6:50 a.m. PT. The pairings for the match are listed below. A win over Vandy would send the Wildcats to the semifinals against either Texas or UCLA later on Tuesday.
 


Individually, senior Filip Jakubcik finished tied for fourth place at 10-under par for the tournament following an even par round of 72 on Monday. It is the best individual finish by an Arizona men's golfer since Chris Nallen tied for second in 2004. His final round saw him begin with seven straight pars before a birdie on hole 8 broke the streak. He added two bogeys and one birdie on the back nine and tapped in for par on the 18^th hole to secure the Wildcats spot in match play.
 
As a result of his finish, Jakubcik finished fourth in the PGA Tour University standings for this year, which earns him a spot on the Korn Ferry Tour for the remainder of the 2026 season.
 
His classmate, and roommate, Zach Pollo also earned status on the PGA Americas Tour by finishing 18^th in the PGA Tour U standings. He closed with a 2-over par 74 to finish 1-over for the tournament and a tie for 39^th.
 


Tianyi Xiong carded an even par final round and also finished the tournament at even par, which was good for a tie for 32^nd.
 
William Wistrand and Taishi Moto both posted rounds of 3-over par on Monday, but both played key roles in helping the Cats move on. Wistrand earned a tie for 61^st at 6-over par for the week while Moto was 13-over, but moved up 50 spots to tie for 77^th.
 
The excitement down the stretch unfolded like this:
 
Taishi Moto started his day with a birdie on the first hole and the Wildcats appeared to be off and running. But things quickly went south for Moto, as he would go on to play his next 12 holes in 7-over par. After back-to-back birdies on 14 and 15, Moto went for the green in two on the par 5 18^th hole. He was left of the green, and chipped up to a foot away and tapped in for birdie. At the time, that putt didn't appear to mean much. But it meant a lot.
 
Next was Wistrand, who was 1-under on his round through 13 holes before bogeying three straight from 14 through 16. After a par on 17, he pulled his drive on 18 left and into the water. After taking a drop, he hit is approach shot in the rough to the right and then his approach shot ended up on the front of the green, roughly 50 feed away from the hole. His first putt came up short and left him with about 10 feed for bogey, which he converted. Again, a putt for bogey on 18 isn't glamorous, but every stroke matters.
 
Xiong was 1-over par on his day when he stepped on the 16^th tee, a par 3 that plays downhill but requires a shot entirely over water. Although he did clear the water, Xiong did not clear the front bunker. His shot from the bunker went long and he missed the comebacker for par to drop to 2-over par. He didn't let that define his day, and battled back to hit a great iron shot from the fairway on 17 that led to a birdie. Then on 18, he had approximately 18 feet left for a birdie that Arizona really needed to get back inside the top 8. He found the perfect mix of line and pace to get the birdie putt to drop and the Cats were back in business.



That set the stage for the two seniors – Jakubcik and Pollo – to bring it home for Arizona.
 
Pollo's day began with three consecutive bogeys on the first three holes. But being the steady player that he is, Pollo righted the ship and rattled off 14 straight pars as he stepped on the tee at 18. Like Wistrand, he pulled his drive left but it didn't go in the water. He was then able to hit a solid layup to about 75 yards from the hole and knock his wedge in close, setting up a 10-foot putt for birdie that would all but clinch the Cats a spot in match play. Knowing that he could be aggressive because a miss would not hurt the team score, he found the line and dropped it in the center of the cup to put Arizona at 3-under par, one shot clear of a group tied at 2-under par.
 
In order to maintain that edge, Jakubcik was going to have to make par on 18. The calm Czech stepped up and four perfect shots to setup a 1-foot tap-in par to make it official.  
 
Oklahoma State's Preston Stout claimed the individual national championship honors, closing at 14-under par for the week to edge out William Jennings from Alabama by a stroke.
 
The team standings required a four-for-two playoff that saw UCLA and Stanford earn the final two spots in match play.
 
Top 8 Team Standings
1. Auburn (-26)
2. Texas (-23)
3. Vanderbilt (-12)
T4. Florida (-11)
T4. Oklahoma State (-11)
6. Arizona (-3)
7. Stanford (-2)*
8. UCLA (-2)*
 
* advanced via playoff
 
[6] Arizona vs. [3] Vanderbilt
6:50am: Taishi Moto (ARIZ) vs. Chase Nevins (VANDY)
7:00am: Tianyi Xiong (ARIZ) vs. Jon Ed Steed (VANDY)
7:10am: Filip Jakubcik (ARIZ) vs. Will Hartman (VANDY)
7:20am: William Wistrand (ARIZ) vs. Ryan Downes (VANDY)
7:30am: Zach Pollo (ARIZ) vs. Wells Williams (VANDY)