There isn’t a single Spanish player on the UCLA men’s golf team, but right now the Bruins are college golf’s equivalent of Sergio Garcia.
Garcia, the Spanish PGA tour star, is considered the best player in the world never to have won one of golf’s four major tournaments.
And the Bruins are considered the best program without a national title in the past two decades.
That could all change this week at the NCAA Championships in West Lafayette, Ind. The 72-hole tournament starts today, and the Bruins are certainly in contention.
“We’ve had great teams that have had legit chances over the past few years,” All-American Kevin Chappell said. “We have something to prove and we definitely have the talent.”
Five Bruins will compete for the UCLA team: seniors Chappell and Craig Leslie, juniors Erik Flores and Lucas Lee, and freshman Philip Francis. That lineup has the potential to bring back the men’s golf program’s first NCAA title since 1988.
The team played its best golf during the fall season ““ wining all three of its tournaments. Since then, the Bruins’ play has been solid but not spectacular.
The No. 4 Bruins enter the tournament just behind the top three favorites ““ USC, Georgia and Alabama.
Few pundits are picking the Bruins to win it all, but that hasn’t really fazed them.
“We don’t get caught up in all this press,” Chappell said. “It doesn’t do any good.”
Instead the team is focusing on how to handle the brutal conditions expected at the Kampen Course, where high winds are expected to challenge almost every shot.
The course is over 7,400 yards, and its finishing holes will produce plenty of drama down the stretch. The 16th is a massive, 600-yard par-5, the 17th is a 210-yard par-3 and the final hole is a 484-yard par-4, believed to be the hardest on the entire course.
On top of all that, the players expect constant winds on the flat, almost treeless course.
That type of wind is most typical on Midwest courses, but the Bruins have dealt with high winds frequently this season, and Chappell said he thinks the team will be able to handle the conditions.
The team arrived in Indiana on Sunday and has already played two practice rounds, where the Bruins played well despite the conditions.
The pressure will be much more significant today, though, because the first round is so crucial in college golf.
“You can’t win a tournament on the first day,” Chappell said. “But you can definitely lose it.”
Chappell is also one of a select group of players in the 150-man tournament with a legitimate shot to win the NCAA individual title.
Chappell won the Pac-10 player of the year award after a phenomenal individual spring season. Golfweek ranks him as the No. 3 player in the country, behind Alabama’s Michael Thompson and Oklahoma State freshman Rickie Fowler.
“For me, it’s the first time in my four years I feel like I have a chance to win individually,” Chappell said. “This is a stage I feel comfortable on.”
The 72-hole format, which is slightly longer than most collegiate events, could benefit the Bruins and the other top teams in the field because it rewards consistency.
The team expects a battle ““ and an opportunity to finally accomplish a goal that has eluded the Bruins for the past two decades.
“For me the goal when I came here was to win a national championship, and this is my last chance,” Chappell said.