In between swings at the driving range of TPC Valencia, sophomore Philip Francis played with his new camera. The special camera replays his swing in slow motion, pointing out the smallest details of his grip, backswing, speed and the flight path of the ball, among other things.
Francis’ attention to detail as he looks at the frames is evident.
He has had a tough season because he implemented some major swing changes that set him back in the short term. But he has shown flashes of greatness and seems to be putting it all together at the right time as the Bruins begin NCAA Regionals today in Kentucky. He knew exactly what he was doing right when he watched his swing, and more importantly, he knew exactly what he was doing wrong.
Francis’ story is very representative of the Bruins’ season. They have struggled mightily at times; in their last tournament, they finished eighth place out of 10 after two rounds at the Pac-10 Championships. But they always seem to bounce back stronger than before, just as they did on the third day, when they shot the lowest score of any team during the final round.
Earlier in the season, the Bruins finished in 12th place at the General Hackler Championship in early March, without a single individual placing in the top 15. But the Bruins responded by taking third place at the Collegiate Match Play Championship a few weeks later with senior Eric Flores finishing with a tie for second.
Now, the Bruins must build off the positive momentum gained from the final few rounds of the Pac-10 Championships to turn in a top-five finish at the NCAA Regionals to advance to the NCAA Championships.
“I think (the momentum) is extremely important,” coach Derek Freeman said. “The great thing about golf is we can focus on the last rounds and how well we played, and forget about the other rounds. This momentum can carry us forward as we move into regionals.”
The Bruins have been led all year by Flores, the lone senior on the travel squad, who has set the tone of late with four straight top 10 finishes. The Bruins have been plagued this season by slow starts, but they won’t have time for that this week. Regionals is only three rounds as opposed to four.
“It’s definitely the most nerve-racking tournament all year for college golf, because you want to have the chance to go to the finals,” Flores said. “It’s definitely important for us to get off to a good start.”
While Flores said he is a little anxious for the tournament to begin, others on the team, such as sophomore Connor Driscoll, are just happy the Bruins are where they are and have nothing to lose at this point.
“A lot of people didn’t even expect us to make it to regionals after our start,” Driscoll said. “We made it here, had a good last day of Pac-10s and have been playing well in practice. If we go out there and play our game, we should easily make it, but we could win the whole thing.”
Besides Driscoll, Flores and Francis, the other two Bruins that will fill out the travel roster are freshmen Alex Kim and Gregor Main. Main has been one of UCLA’s most consistent players, currently ranking second on the team behind Flores with a scoring average of 72.7 strokes per round. Main started the Pac-10 Championships with two brutal rounds of 77 and 76, but finished much better with a 73 and 68 on the final two days. The Bruins only have two competitors who played on last year’s NCAA Championship team, Flores and Francis, so young players like Main must step up and contribute this week.
“This is the part of the season that we work hard for all year,” Main said. “We are all trying to peak at the right time.”