The artist formerly known as the dominant No. 3 UCLA men’s
golf team finally reemerged outside of Tucson, Ariz. on Tuesday.
Only today’s final round of the Pac-10 Championships at The
Gallery at Dove Mountain will tell if it was too little too
late.
The Bruins rediscovered their game, and more importantly their
confidence, in the third round of the conference tournament,
blazing The Gallery for a collective 8-under par total, the lowest
team score of the event thus far. But it may all be for naught.
UCLA has amassed a 7-over par total over the first 54 holes and
currently sits in third place, 11 shots behind No. 5 Arizona State.
While the deficit is certainly not insurmountable, the Bruins will
have to repeat Tuesday’s valiant effort to have any chance at
catching the Sun Devils in today’s final round.
“It was nice to have everyone back in the ballgame,”
UCLA coach O.D. Vincent said. “But if ASU continues to
play”“well, more power to them.”
Before UCLA stepped up to the first tee on Monday, Vincent had a
gut feeling that senior Travis Johnson would be the one to lead the
Bruins in this particular tournament. Vincent must be
clairvoyant.
Johnson made easy work of The Gallery for the second consecutive
round, carding a stellar 4-under par 68 on Tuesday, the best round
shot by a Bruin in the tournament. The senior compiled seven
birdies against three bogeys in his round and enters the fourth
round tied for third place at 5-under par for the tournament.
Johnson, who has yet to win an individual title in his collegiate
career, trails Arizona State teammates Alejandro Canizares and Chez
Reavie by two shots.
Joining Johnson as the only other Bruin to be in red figures
after three rounds is junior John Poucher, who shot a 2-under par
70 on Tuesday and is 1-under par and tied for ninth place for the
tournament.
While UCLA is looking up at the leaders primarily because of a
disappointing first round, the team’s play on The
Gallery’s finishing holes until Tuesday had been anything but
strong.
“We had an extremely poor finish in the second
round,” Vincent said. “Emotionally, it was one of the
toughest rounds for me to take.”
Rest assured, freshman Peter Campbell broke the trend in a big
way.
Entering the final four holes at 4-over par on his round,
Campbell carded four consecutive birdies to finish the round at
even-par, and is tied for 27th place at 9-over par for the
championship.
“Peter’s finish was huge,” Vincent said.
“We really needed that.
“But we still need an exceptional round
(Wednesday).”