For the UCLA men’s golf team, its toughest opponent this week was the weather.
UCLA senior Erik Flores battled through horrendous conditions in the three-day U.S. Collegiate Championships in Georgia to capture his second career collegiate victory, while the UCLA team finished in a tie for seventh place. Flores finished in a tie for first with Bud Cauley of Alabama, as they both finished at 212 (-4) for the tournament. Flores was at 7-under par during one point of his final round, but the weather was too much to overcome.
“We had snow flurries all day, and it was freezing and windy,” Flores said. “It was just really tough to score.”
But the weather wasn’t the only negative affecting his final round. After making a key birdie on the 16th hole and saving par on hole 17 to take a one-shot lead over Cauley, Flores decided to lay up on the long, par-5 18th hole.
His second shot landed in a sand-filled divot in the middle of the fairway, about 100 yards away. Flores hit his third shot just short of where he was aiming, and the ball spun back into the water that was short of the green. Flores was forced to take a double-bogey on the hole, and ended up tying the tournament as a result.
“It was pretty unfortunate … but I hung in there,” Flores said. “I was happy with the way I mentally battled and stayed positive.”
No. 22-ranked UCLA finished tied for seventh in the overall team standings, which was a solid performance in a field that featured all 10 of the top 10 teams in the country and five others in the top 30, for a total of 15 teams that competed in the tournament hosted by Georgia Tech.
The Bruins once again showed flashes of brilliance, having the overall lead for much of the sunshine-filled first day and finishing the day one stroke back of Clemson. Both Flores and sophomore Philip Francis broke par, with Flores seven-under par and Francis one-under par.
But when the weather turned bleak on the second day, so did the Bruins’ chances of victory. The Bruins fell to fifth place, while Flores bogeyed the final two holes of the day to relinquish his two-stroke lead and fall into a tie for first place.
Francis followed up his first round of 71 (-1) with a round of 82 (+10). Freshman Mauricio Azcue, competing in his first event of the spring season, carded a 73 (+1) on Sunday, but a 79 (+7) on Monday.
Freshman Gregor Main actually was the only Bruin to improve his score on day two, as he shot 77 (+5) the first day and just 73 (+1) the second day.
Francis rode an emotional roller coaster, shooting under par in one round and then his worst round this season back-to-back. He didn’t let it get him down though, because he said the tournament was still fun and exciting because of the tough competition and Flores taking first place.
“It was just one of those days where nothing went right,” Francis said. “I didn’t hit it good, I didn’t putt well, the short game was bad, and that basically sums it up.”
Francis has been going through some major swing changes this year that he hopes will help him in the long run, but he might have a rough day here and there as a result.
Azcue, who is from Mexico City, had quite a daunting task dealing with the weather conditions, because he is used to playing golf back home and in Southern California, where the conditions are obviously much better.
“For me, (Monday and Tuesday) were tough, because back home in Mexico City it never gets cold,” Azcue said. “It was freezing. I have never played in that weather.”
On Tuesday, the weather got even worse and it started to snow. But the Bruins dealt with the weather better, with four of the five Bruins improving on Monday’s score. All of the Bruins said that they were able to deal with the weather by focusing on their short game.
“I was just trying to make some putts,” Azcue said. “I had to just warm up and be ready to go, no matter what the weather was.”
The third round, while a slight improvement over the second round, wasn’t enough to keep UCLA in the top five in the standings. Clemson won the tournament outright with an overall score of 876 (+12), while UCLA finished at 887 (+23), one stroke ahead of rival USC, finishing at 888 (+24).
With a tournament in two weeks at Stanford, followed by the Pac-10 Championships and then playoffs, UCLA seems to be peaking at the right time. UCLA hopes to capture the momentum of its first day in Georgia and carry it forward to future tournaments and possibly a chance to repeat as NCAA champions.
BIRTHDAY MADE HAPPY: Sunday was senior Erik Flores’ birthday. He shot 65, his best round this season.