They may not be the Los Angeles Lakers, but the members of the
third-ranked UCLA men’s golf team have adopted the
personality of the vaunted purple and gold.
At times during the regular season, the Bruins’ play was
stellar. At other times, it was lackadaisical and unenthusiastic,
often falling short of expectations.Â
But the calendar confirms that the regular season is now a
distant memory, and with the postseason slated to begin this
morning at the Pac-10 Championships on The Gallery’s North
Course at Dove Mountain in Tucson, Ariz., UCLA needs to flip its
switch. Now.
“There’s a sense of urgency,” Bruin coach O.D.
Vincent said. “They’ve been looking forward to the
postseason all year long, trying to prime themselves for the prime
time.”
UCLA has stood on the stage before, and thrived on the pressure.
At the Pac-10 Championships a year ago, the hosting Bruins pounded
the competition into submission, winning the tournament by a
whopping 27 shots. Senior John Merrick won his first collegiate
title in triumphant fashion with a closing round nine-under par
63.
This time around, it won’t figure to be as easy.
Though UCLA is the highest ranked team in the field, both No. 5
Arizona State and No. 8 Arizona are considered the front-runners
because of their intimate knowledge of the long 7,412-yard Gallery
course, which includes a par-5 over 700 yards.
“We are a definite underdog going into the tournament,
which is fine,” Vincent said. “We want to go back and
prove to people we can do it twice.”
Traveling to the desert in addition to the normal five-man
starting lineup of Steve Conway, Travis Johnson, Merrick, Roy Moon
and John Poucher, will be freshman Peter Campbell, who will be
competing in only his second collegiate tournament as part of
UCLA’s Gold Team.
The lowest five scores in each round will count toward the
overall team total, and though the tournament format favors
UCLA’s parity, the Bruins’ success will likely be
dependent on how well Campbell handles the steep learning
curve.
“Peter Campbell will be the X-factor,” Vincent said.
“I predict Campbell will shoot two extremely good rounds for
us. He has a tremendous amount of firepower and makes a lot of
birdies.”
While Campbell may be the wild card, Johnson is more of a sure
thing. The senior finished in the top-10 in three of four
tournaments during the regular season, and is hungry to collect his
first individual collegiate championship.
With the way he’s been practicing and playing of late,
Vincent sees no reason why he shouldn’t be able to get the
monkey off his back this week.
“Travis has played extremely well this whole
spring,” Vincent said. “I think he has a very good
chance to win.”
The 72-hole tournament, which runs through Wednesday, will
certainly test the endurance and stamina of all the players in the
field. The championship begins this morning at 7 a.m., with all the
players scheduled to play a round in the morning and another round
in the afternoon.
“That’s to our advantage,” Vincent said.
“We are a very athletic team.”