The Arizona men’s golf team opened the 2026 NCAA Championship with a score of 1-under par 287, resulting in a four-way tie for sixth place after the first round at Omni La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, Calif., on May 29.
Senior Filip Jakubcik led the Wildcats with a round of 68, which included six birdies and two bogeys. Jakubcik is now tied for fifth place individually at 4-under par, marking his twelfth round in the 60s this season.
Arizona entered the tournament as the No. 11 seed among thirty teams. Senior Zach Pollo started strong with a birdie on his first hole and nearly made a hole-in-one on the par-3 sixteenth before finishing with an even-par round of 72. Tianyi Xiong was two under through four holes but finished even par after consecutive bogeys on holes fourteen and fifteen.
Freshman William Wistrand posted a score of three-over-par seventy-three after recovering from early bogeys and adding another birdie before two more bogeys on the back nine. Taishi Moto’s round of seventy-nine did not count toward Arizona’s team score.
UCLA leads after one round with a team score of eight-under-par two hundred seventy. Only nine out of thirty teams broke par during their opening rounds. The Wildcats are scheduled to tee off from hole number ten at seven forty-seven Saturday morning.
