TUCSON, Ariz. - The University of Arizona men's golf team will open it's 2016-17 season at the William H. Tucker golf tournament hosted by the University of New Mexico. It will be the first of 12 tournaments the Cats will play this season, 10 on the road and two at home. Competition will begin with a shotgun start at 7:30 a.m. MST with 36 holes played Friday and 18 on Saturday. Arizona will be joined by 16 other universities for the competition. The Wildcats are looking to better last year's effort. Pac-12 schools Washington and Washington State will join Arizona.
 
"We are starting a few weeks later this year which has provided our team an opportunity to settle in to their classes, familiarize with local golf courses, and build great chemistry," said head men's golf coach Jim Anderson.  
 
Competing for the Cats will be juniors Jordan Gumberg and Ethan Marcus, senior Redford Bobbitt, and freshmen David Laskin and Briggs Duce. Joining the Cats on the links as individuals in the competition will be juniors George Cunningham and Austin Stadeli, and freshman Brad Reeves. Juniors Jordan Gumberg and Austin Stadeli are the only Cats who competed in last year's contest. Freshmen David Laskin, Briggs Duce, Brad Reeves, junior Ethan Marcus, and senior Redford Bobbitt will all be making their first appearances as Wildcats.
 
 "The opening lineup features four newcomers to Wildcat golf along with our top performer and now, upperclassmen Jordan Gumberg," Anderson continued. "Jordan has picked up this Fall right where we last saw him at PAC-12's, and I know he is prepared to lift our team to where we believe we can be.  Each member of our team, regardless of where they are playing this week, will be calm and comfortable knowing they are prepared for a fun week. We just finished the best qualifier I can recall, and we are building confidence as a team." 
 
Gumberg finished the four-round qualifier 20-under-par, with all four Cats competing in the team competition finishing at or under par. 
 
"The results are certainly important," noted Anderson, "but our singular focus is to be our best from start to finish.  If we play our own games and control things within our power, we will mark this week as a success."
 
The Championship Course has been home to the William H. Tucker Invitational for the past 43 years (second longest running collegiate tournament), and in 2015 it hosted the 61st incarnation of the event. . The 7,248-yard, par 72 course boasts fairways that stretch out long and wide, bobbing up and down, both right and left, all factors that make it difficult to reach the rolling, well-manicured greens. Stray shots often land in the rough, loose desert sand, water or sagebrush.