Men's golf team enters final round in second

Brian Foster Arizona Daily Wildcat UA senior Rory Sabbatini tees off for his morning round during the PING Arizona Intercollegiate tournament at the Raven Golf Club at Sabino Springs yesterday. The Wildcats are in second place going into today's final round trailing the University of Nevada Las Vegas by seven strokes.

The tournament, which is being played at the Raven Golf Club at Sabino Springs, concludes today with play beginning at 8 a.m.

The Wildcats had a remarkable afternoon performance to move them into sole possession of second place.

"We played stupid this morning and we made a few mistakes, but we sorted ourselves out this afternoon and we are looking forward to tomorrow," senior Rory Sabbatini said.

The team fired a six-under 278. This led all teams during the afternoon round. The effort was spearheaded by Sabbatini, who fired an afternoon round of six under par 65.

This score moved him into third place in the individual competition at five under par 137.

Sabbatini is two strokes behind leader Joel Kribel (-7, 135) of Stanford.

Also making a move during the afternoon round was junior Andy Barnes, who shot an even-par 71. Barnes jumped from 25th to 13th-place after the afternoon round.

The Arizona Blue team struggled during the afternoon and in the process fell from ninth to 16th place. The Blue team will need to have strong performances from sophomore Dave Bates (+4, 146), and juniors Mark Manwaring (+6, 148) and Aaron Friedman (+8, 150) to finish in the top ten.

Monday's action consisted of a morning and an afternoon round for a total of 36 holes played.

The Arizona Red team found themselves trailing tournament leader UNLV by eleven strokes after the morning round. The Red team finished with an 8 over 292. Arizona's Blue team shot a 9 over 293 and were only one stroke back of the Red team after the first 18 holes.

The Arizona Red team struggled when its top three players - Sabbatini, Barnes and sophomore Derek Gillespie - all shot above par.

Sabbatini and Barnes both finished with a one over 72 and Gillespie finished with a two over 73.

The other two Wildcats playing on the Red team, senior Tim Beans and freshman Tim Weiss, also had troubles during the breezy, morning round. Weiss finished at a four over 75 and Beans finished with a five over 76.

The surprise during the morning round was the Arizona Blue team. Dave Bates shot a one under 70 over the first eighteen holes to lead the team. Mark Manwaring and Aaron Friedman also made solid contributions to the Blue team during the morning round. Manwaring and Friedman battled the cold morning conditions to shoot one over and three over respectively.

The tournament's individual leader after 18 holes was senior Justin Johnson of Oregon State With an array of amazing shots, Johnson shot a four under 67 to take sole possession of first place.

Johnson fired a four over 75 in the afternoon round, however, to move him into a tie for 10th-place at even-par. Johnson's closest competitor after the first eighteen holes was Kribel who was one stroke back. Kribel stormed into the afternoon round and ended up taking the lead with his afternoon round of 67. UNLV's Bill Lunde is one stroke behind.

The Wildcats have a lot of work to do to make up seven strokes over only 18 holes when play resumes tomorrow. After the afternoon round Rory Sabbatini tried to put the Wildcats' troubles into perspective.

"It's been a long time since our last tournament and it took us a while to get back into the routine of things," he said.

When asked what it will take to make a remarkable comeback for a victory, Sabbatini replied, "We need to come out tomorrow, ready to play with a determined attitude and hopefully we will pull it together and win the tournament."