By Dylan Hernandez
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Two tournaments, two defeats.
Now, event No. 3.
This latest event that the UCLA men’s golf team is entered
in — the two-day Prestige beginning today at Palm Desert, Calif.
— is being billed as some kind of nerd-a-thon, as the field is
comprised of only schools that ranked among the top 100 learning
institutions in the United States.
But in this sport, such entry restrictions possess little
bearing on the level of competition, meaning the Bruins can be in
for a couple of very long days on the Desert Willow Golf
Club’s very long 7,056-yard course.
Northwestern, Pepperdine, Rice, North Carolina and co-hosts
Stanford and UC Davis will tee off this morning alongside UCLA.
Northwestern won last year’s inaugural event, shooting 855
over 54 holes, but return this year without Luke Donald, arguably
college golf’s best player over the last few years. Donald is
now competing in the pro circuit.
The Bruins were 11th at The Prestige last year and have crashed
into the first couple of hurdles they have faced this year. They
tied for last at the highly-competitive Carpet Capital Invitational
in Georgia and finished seventh at a small tournament in Stockton,
Calif. two weeks later.
Yet, it’s still November and there’s no reason to
panic. Last year’s Bruin squad struggled well into the spring
and wound up making the NCAA championships.
“We’ve only played in two tournaments so far,”
UCLA head coach Brad Sherfy said. “Usually at this time we
would have played three or four, so we’re just trying to get
some game experience under our belts and improve each time
out.”
UCLA sophomore Steve Conway has been encouraged by the way he
and his teammates have been shooting in practice and that midterms
are over.
“Our minds are clear,” he said. “We can just
concentrate on golf. Some of the guys were stressed about school
before.”
On Sunday, the team went out for a practice round on the Desert
Willow GC’s Firecliff Course, and, according to Conway, did
decently.
“We’ve played here before (last year), so
we’re a little more comfortable with it,” he said.
“It plays pretty long and the greens are fast. It’s a
regular desert course.”