STILLWATER, Okla. “”mdash; UCLA’s second round of the NCAA
Championship got off to an extremely early start Wednesday
morning. A 5 a.m. wake-up call is apparently just what the
men’s golf team needed to get back on track after a
lackluster first round at the extremely challenging Karsten Creek
Golf Club.Â
The Bruins, who are used to waking up in the wee hours of
morning back in Los Angeles, took advantage of the favorable
morning conditions. UCLA shot a very respectable seven-over
par in the second round, giving it a two-round total of 22-over
par. The Bruins’ second round is the lowest team round of the
tournament thus far, and they now find themselves in familiar
territory entering the final two rounds ““ in the
lead.Â
Host school Oklahoma State, supported by a heavy throng of
spectators, trails UCLA by a single shot. The top two teams in
the nation, Clemson and Florida, are third and fourth,
respectively, heading into Thursday’s third round.
For the Bruins, Wednesday’s round was a matter of
regaining their form, with each member of the five-man squad
posting an identical or lower score than what they shot in their
first round.Â
Junior John Merrick shot an even-par 72 on Wednesday,
UCLA’s lowest round of the championship. Merrick’s
round had under-par written all over it, but a slight slip up on
the par-3 15th hole cost him a shot at red figures.Â
“I feel great about today. I just had one bad hole,”
Merrick said. “Other than that, I played real solidly.
It’s just survival out there.”
Merrick is tied for fourth place at three-over par going into
Thursday’s round.
Junior Roy Moon, who has been battling allergies in Oklahoma,
shot a gutsy one-over par 73 to put him in a tie for 15th
place.Â
“I think it’s going to be a dogfight all the way to
the end,” Moon said. “This is not a tournament you can
think about being tired. If you’re feeling under the weather,
you just have to post the lowest number you can.”
Moon, as well as the rest of the 155-player field, quickly found
out that there is a premium on hitting the fairways to be
successful on the Karsten Creek course.
“It’s a shot penalty if you hit it in the
rough,” said Moon of the ankle-high rough. “If you hit
it in the thick stuff, you’d have to play the hole really
well just to make a bogey.”
Junior Travis Johnson posted his second consecutive round of 74
and is tied for 12th at four-over par.Â
“The course takes a toll on you,” Johnson said.
“It’s so demanding off the tees, off the fairways,
approaches to the green ““ everything. You can’t
let your guard down on any shot. It’s by far the toughest
course I’ve ever played, and a lot of people are saying the
same thing.”
Junior Steve Conway, playing in the number one position for the
Bruins, is 10-over after his first two rounds of 78 and 76, and
resides in a tie for 45th place. Junior John Poucher is
14-over after two rounds and tied for 84th.Â
Knowing that its best golf is still to come, the team feels
confident entering the final two rounds of its
season. However, the players’ philosophy of staying in
the moment at hand will not succumb to visions of the finish
line.
“We can’t be thinking about winning,” Moon
said. “We just have to hit fairways, hit greens, and keep our
heads straight and stay confident.”
“We shot 15-over yesterday, and we felt bad about
that,” Johnson said. “We thought we were going to be
way back, but then we saw we were only four shots back. We know
we’re good enough, and we know our games are good
enough. If we play the course right we’re going to come
out on top.”