The Arizona men's golf team returns home to host an elite field at the 2004 National Invitational Tournament at Omni Tucson National Golf Course. It is the second of three home events for the Wildcats this season.
The NIT will be played over Tucson National's Orange and Gold nines, the same layout used for the PGA Tour's Chrysler Classic of Tucson. Arizona is the defending champion in this event and enters the tournament with three victories in its four spring starts, including its last outing at the Hall of Fame Invitational March 19-21.
The NIT will be held March 28-30 at Omni Tucson National, a par 72, 7,138-yard layout. Fifty-four holes will be played over the three days (18 each day), with threesomes scheduled to go off the first tee at 8 a.m.
Twelve teams are scheduled to compete: Arizona State, Kent State, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oklahoma State, TCU, Tulsa, UNLV, USC, Washington and host Arizona (two squads). Nine of the 15 teams in the tournament lineup are ranked in the current (March 11) Precept/GCAA Coaches Poll: No. 6 Arizona State, No. 7 Oklahoma State, No. 9 TCU, No. 10 UNLV, No. 11 Arizona, No. 12 Minnesota, No. 15 New Mexico, No. 20 USC and No. 22 Washington.
Arizona won this event last season with a six-over-par 870 team total. Arizona State's Alejandro Canizares captured individual medalist honors with a 69-73-70=212 (-4) tally.
The Wildcats opened the 2003-04 season ranked in the top 20 in all three major college golf polls, and are currently ranked 11th in the Precept/GCAA Coaches Poll and 13th in the Golf World Coaches Poll. After four team events this spring, the UA checks in at No. 10 on the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index.
Individually, senior Chris Nallen is ranked fifth individually on the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index, the highest-ranked Wildcat.