Wildcat Wrap: Arizona women’s golf opens season with Field of Honors Collegiate championship

Editor’s note: With several sports going on, Wildcat Wrap serves as a recap that focuses on the Arizona programs that we do not have the time to cover on a regular basis but are certainly worthy of recognition.

When Arizona women’s golf lost head coach Laura Ianello to Texas over the summer, it was expected that the program might take a step back, at least briefly, under a new regime.

Not quite.

First-year coach Giovana Maymon scored her first career tournament win in the Wildcats’ season opener, as Arizona won the Folds of Honor Collegiate in Grand Haven, Mich. this week.

Even sweeter, Arizona outperformed Ianello’s Longhorns to win the championship.

No. 19 Arizona shot a 6-under par Wednesday in the third and final round to finish with a 4-over for the tournament, three strokes ahead of second place Florida State. Ohio State finished third at 16-over while Texas, Baylor and Michigan State tied for fourth place at 19-over.

Senior Carolina Melgrati led the Wildcats with a 4-under to finish second in the individual tournament. Sophomore Charlotte Back shot 1-over to finish a tie for sixth, junior Nena Wongthanavimok shot 4-over to finish in a tie for 11th and senior Lilas Pinthier shot 6-over to place in a tie for 21st.

Back’s 4-under Wednesday helped Arizona secure the victory. The Wildcats entered the day in second place one shot behind No. 6 Florida State.

After the tournament, Maymon was interviewed by Golf Channel, which televised the event.

“I just have fighters, you know? They never give up,” Maymon said. “This is special. It’s the first one. But I’m so thankful to be at Arizona and these kids are special for me.

“I’ve only gotten to know them in the last two months, three months. It’s something special. They fought all summer. They all worked hard. It was not just last week that we’ve been working hard, it’s all summer. All their lives for this moment. And I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

Arizona athletic director Desireé Reed-Francois congratulated Maymon on the victory, noting that she’s the first Arizona women’s golf coach in history to win their debut.

Reed-Francois took a chance on Maymon by giving the former Texas A&M assistant the job despite no previous head coaching experience.

Maymon competed collegiately at Baylor from 2014-18 before entering the coaching profession.

Arizona women’s golf continues its fall season with the Mason Rudolph Championship in Franklin, Tenn. on Sept. 20-22.

Men’s golf

Men’s golf also opened the 2024-25 season with an impressive debut, finishing third overall in The Sahalee Players Championship in Sammamish, Wash.

Arizona shot 6-over par across three rounds, two strokes behind runner-up Florida and 13 strokes behind champion ASU.

The 13-team field was loaded with perennial powers such as Pepperdine, Duke, Oklahoma State and Oregon.

Arizona’s Tiger Christensen finished in a tie for fourth overall with a 2-under. It is the fourth top 5 career finish for the senior. Christensen was named a Third Team Preseason All-American by the Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine.

Senior Griffin Rhoads, who competed as an individual, finished tied for 19th with a 2-over. Right behind him was junior Zach Pollo, who finished tied for 23rd with a 3-over, and junior Filip Jakubcik, who placed in tie for 29th at 4-over.

Arizona next competes at the Husky Invitational in Sammamish on Sept. 23-24.

Triathlon

Arizona will hold its first Red-Blue intrasquad this Saturday. The modified triathlon will begin at 7 a.m. with the swimming portion held at the Hillenbrand Aquatic Center. Athletes will have a brief cycling portion followed by a running portion.

Arizona is coming off a fourth-place finish at the Southern Hills Triathlon in Hot Springs, S.D.