Thursday, 5/29/97 Inexperience, youth to blame for Bruins’ poor
performance M. GOLF: UCLA can still seize the day entering second
round of NCAA championships
By Chris Umpierre Daily Bruin Contributor The UCLA men’s golf
team demonstrated its youth and inexperience in the first round of
the NCAA Championships at the Conway Farms Golf Club in Lake
Forest, Ill. The Bruins shot a 303 in Wednesday’s first round to
place them in 29th place out in a 30- team field. The performance
places the team in danger of not qualifying past the second round
of play. If the Bruins do not come up with a better performance in
tomorrow’s second round, the squad will be quickly ousted from the
championships, as only the top 15 teams continue beyond the second
round. The dismal first-round performance can be blamed on nothing
other than the team’s youth and inexperience. Head coach Brad
Sherfy started a young team in the championships, possibly the
youngest in the field, with no experience in championship play. The
five-player team consists of two true freshmen (Jason Semelsberger
and Steve Wagner), two sophomores (Brandon DiTullio and B.J.
Schlagenhauf) and one junior (Ben Bost). But they yet have to carry
the pressure of representing UCLA in the championships for the
first time in four years. The 1993 squad was the last Bruin team to
qualify for championship play (they finished in 17th place). But
one also has to consider how the other teams performed, and those
teams were not sharp in the first round either. The weather was the
x-factor in the first round. It kept scores high for all teams, not
just UCLA. The Northwestern Wildcats, the host team, and the North
Carolina Tarheels were the only teams to shoot under par. The UNLV
Running Rebels, the No. 1 team in the country, also had a bad first
round as they currently sit in 24th place. But despite UCLA’s 29th
place first-round finish, the Bruins’ hopes for moving on in the
championships are not completely smashed. UCLA is just 11 shots off
the pace of the 14th place team (Florida), which is a small deficit
to overcome in college golf. Also playing in the Bruins’ favor is
the fact that the team has flourished under pressure during
tournaments in the season, despite their youth and inexperience.
Case in point, the Stanford Invitational on April 26. While sitting
on the bubble for the West Regionals, the Bruins needed a top
finish to qualify the team for the regional as they headed up the
way to Palo Alto. The Bruins came up with a third place finish,
their highest finish of the year, to bounce UCLA off the bubble and
into the Regionals. UCLA will be hoping for another such clutch
performance in tomorrow’s second round. Previous Daily Bruin
Stories: Shooting for victory in Hawaii