The fifth-ranked UCLA men’s golf team completed what it
called an “average” tournament by winning the U.S.
Intercollegiate in Palo Alto.
Sometimes par is good enough to win.
UCLA’s mediocre play this season has proved to be strong
enough to walk away with a tournament title, and this weekend was
no different.
The Bruins outshot arguably their toughest Pac-10 rivals to win
the two-round tournament by one stroke over USC and two strokes
over Stanford. A third round, which was scheduled for Sunday, was
canceled due to harsh weather conditions.
“It’s always good to beat ‘SC,” said
Chris Heintz, who individually placed sixth in the tournament.
“Even if we finish eighth and they finish ninth, it feels
great.”
This win is the Bruins’ 10th win of the regular season,
which just ended, and the Bruins are just three wins away from
matching the UCLA record of 13 wins in a season, which was set in
1981.
This Bruin team is more confident than ever, and the
implications of what it has accomplished by beating its top Pac-10
rivals, with the Pac-10 Tournament just over a week away, seems
clear.
“It’s a step in the right direction; ending on a win
is how you want to do it,” UCLA coach O.D. Vincent said.
“It’s been a successful year as far as wins go for us,
(and) we’re going into the Pac-10s prepared.”
Eric Flores (+1) and Chris Heintz (+2) finished tied for second
and tied for sixth, respectively.
“I feel pretty prepared for the postseason,” Flores
said. “We’ve all been looking forward to it so much
that we’re pretty anxious to play.”
Heintz expressed similar confidence, but was not too excited
with his team’s play during the tournament.
“We definitely didn’t play our best as a team, we
played our C-game,” Heintz said. “But it’s cool
to know that you cannot play your best and still beat everybody. We
think we have a really good chance to win (the Pac-10s).
“We’re going to have to play really good to win, but
if we play close to our best golf, it shouldn’t be a
problem.”
The rest of the Bruins fared reasonably well.
Sophomore Daniel Im tied for 23rd shooting 8-over par, while
Kevin Chappell (+9) was just one stroke behind Im and finished tied
for 28th.
Lucas Lee finished fifth on the team and tied for 54th place
overall while shooting 14-over par.
All five Bruins stayed relatively consistent or improved on
their first-round score over the course of Saturday’s two
rounds.
The 10 wins this season are the most wins Vincent has had during
his short but successful tenure at UCLA. In almost four seasons,
Vincent has led UCLA to 29 tournament victories, including nine
during the 2003 season, which ended with UCLA winning the Pac-10
Championship.