It was a subtle gesture, but it meant the world to senior
men’s golfer Roy Moon.
After senior John Merrick drained a 25-foot birdie putt on his
18th hole at the Cascades Course in Hot Springs, Va., he picked up
the flag, took a few paces toward the 18th tee, and raised his fist
to an awaiting teammate.
Moon, who hadn’t yet teed off, felt Merrick’s
message.
“It totally relaxed me for my shot,” Moon said.
“Little things like that really help. That’s what this
team is good at.”
For Moon, it capped a memorable day.
The senior will be the first to tell you he did not get the
maximum out of his final year at UCLA, but after the number he put
up in Thursday’s third round of the NCAA Championships,
it’s Moon that has the Bruins on the cusp of winning only the
second national title in the program’s history.
Carding six birdies against one bogey, Moon posted a 5-under par
65, the lowest score for a Bruin in the championship thus far to
pace UCLA to a collective 5-under par team total Thursday.
“Going into today, Steve (Conway) and I were thinking
about 65,” Moon said. “Luckily, it was me today. It was
a huge round, and it definitely puts us in the position we want to
be (today).”
As a result, the Bruins are in a position at which they are most
comfortable: with a lead, heading into the final round. UCLA
vaulted over five teams with Thursday’s performance and will
have a five-shot cushion over Kentucky as it tees off for history
this morning.
“There were many times during this tournament where (Bruin
golfers) could have slipped,” UCLA coach O.D. Vincent said.
“They have done such a great job when they’ve had their
backs against the wall. They have refused to go away.”
While senior Travis Johnson carried the team through the first
two rounds, it was Moon who provided the firepower that launched
the Bruins into the lead.
During his round on Thursday, Moon found encouragement wherever
he could. After every made putt, fans were there giving him the
thumbs up. Â After every crisply hit iron shot, he saw a
teammate in the next fairway, pushing him on.
At the end of the round, Moon’s score wasn’t as
significant as the boost of morale it provided to the rest of the
team.
“It gets the competitive juices flowing,” Moon said.
“It pushes you to keep on trying. It actually does make the
difference if you sink a putt or not.”
“Moon loves this team as much as anyone I’ve ever
met,” Vincent said.
But the championship is far from over. While Vincent expects his
team to come out and play like it always does in today’s
final round, he is not allowing his team to have the sense that it
has accomplished anything yet.
For one thing, senior Steve Conway and junior John Poucher still
have their best golf games in them, and Vincent sees getting them
to play the way they can as the key to success.
“We’ve been leaning on Travis, and he needed more
help. To be successful tomorrow, Poucher and Conway need to shoot
par or better,” Vincent said. “It’s their
turn.”
Conway shot a 3-over 73 on Thursday, and Poucher shot a 7-over
77. The two have struggled throughout the tournament, but were both
consistent scorers during the regular season.
Despite the struggles of Conway and Poucher, the Bruins are in
position to win.
“It’s so close, and it’s going to be so
close,” Vincent said. “It’s going to come down to
a shootout over the last couple of holes.”
When the Bruins tee off today at 9:21 a.m., they will be 18
holes away from reaching a goal instilled in them by Vincent when
he took over as coach before the 2002-03 season.
“We would love just to finish out on a great note,”
Moon said. “We’re thinking about it a little bit. For
the most part, we wanted to make it a memorable two years with
O.D.”
Vincent said his team will play like it normally would, and
won’t take the scoreboard into account until the 15th
hole.
In the individual title race, Johnson is the only Bruin who has
a legitimate chance of winning. His overall score of 5-under puts
him four strokes back behind UNLV’s Ryan Moore (9-under).
Moore was the only player to score better than Moon on Thursday,
with a 6-under-par 64.