Golf takes 5th place, barely qualifies for postseason

The UCLA men’s golf team finished the regular season with its best score of the year at the U.S. Intercollegiate, giving it momentum heading into next week’s Pac-10 Championships.

The Bruins’ final team score was 831 (-9), the lowest combined score the team has had all season.

Unfortunately, on two warm days at Stanford, a score of 831 was only good enough for a fifth place finish, trailing the tournament’s champion Washington by 27 strokes.

Senior Erik Flores led the Bruins with another top 10 individual finish, which follows a second place finish and a victory in his past two tournaments. He finished with a 205 (-5). Freshman Gregor Main shot an impressive round of two-under par in his final round to finish in a tie for 13th place at 207 (-3).

After making some huge changes in his swing earlier in the year, Francis seems to be back on the right track heading into the postseason after three steady rounds this past weekend.

UCLA also got a nice surprise from freshman Alex Kim, who stepped up and shot a 209 (-1).

He played very consistently, as none of his three rounds were over par; 70 (E), 69 (-1) and 70 (E), and he didn’t make a double bogey or worse throughout the entire tournament. Kim does not compete in all events for UCLA, sometimes sitting in favor of sophomore Connor Driscoll or freshman Mauricio Azcue, but he contributed in a big way this weekend.

Two other players competed for UCLA, both of whom had less than stellar tournaments. Freshman Beau Schoolcraft shot a 234 (+24), and Driscoll shot a 223 (+13) while competing as an individual.

Despite Schoolcraft’s poor showing, his results did not adversely affect the team’s score, because only the best four scores from the five golfers competing are counted towards the team score, and so Schoolcraft’s scores were dropped from the team count.

Driscoll’s scores did not count either, as a team can only enter five team golfers, but can sometimes also enter an extra golfer to compete just for the individual championship.

The Bruins qualify for the postseason by finishing with a record barely over .500.

Next week, the Bruins travel north to Seattle, Wash., for the Pac-10 Championships.

The NCAA Regionals follow in the middle of May, and then finally the NCAA Championships close out the season in Ohio at the end of that month.

Compiled by David Updegrove, Bruin sports contributor.

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