The year 2008 was good for the UCLA men’s golf team.
The Bruins started the season by winning three straight tournaments, won the Administaff Augusta State Invitational, and then-senior Kevin Chappell was named Pac-10 golfer of the year and awarded the Jack Nicklaus Award for national college player of the year. Most importantly, the Bruins went to West Lafayette, Ind. and brought home UCLA’s 103rd national championship.
This year’s players will have their eyes on UCLA’s 106th championship this week at The Honors Course in Chattanooga, Tenn., as they tee it up for a school record eighth consecutive championship tournament. Thirty teams will be vying for the title, and the Bruins come in as the No. 6 team in the nation.
Beginning in 2009, the championships switched to a format that includes 54 holes of traditional stroke play over three days. Following that, the top eight teams advance to a match-play style of tournament to be played the final three days.
Coach Derek Freeman said that his team’s disappointing finish last year was not due to the change in format.
“I think we just weren’t as good. This year, we’re better, and I think if we do everything correctly and we play smart and aggressive, we’re going to be OK,” Freeman said.
Freshman Pontus Widegren said that he and his teammates are only going to be thinking about the first three days of play. “We’re trying not to let it into our heads too much,” Widegren said. “Our goal is to be on top after three days and to play some good, confident golf before heading into match play.”
After experimenting with different lineups in different tournament formats earlier in the season, Freeman decided on a lineup that he feels gives his team the best chance to win. Widegren and fellow freshmen Pedro Figueiredo and Mario Clemens will be joined by sophomores Alex Shi Yup Kim and Gregor Main. This lineup is the youngest team competing in the championship. Junior Connor Driscoll, the team’s oldest player and the only player remaining from 2008, has not played in a tournament since April 28.
“Every single one of them brings something to the team,” Freeman said. “I think they’re all extremely talented, and it’s just a matter of if we can put it all together for three rounds. We’ve got to do that to give ourselves the opportunity to get into match play.”
The Bruins have won or tied to win two tournaments this season, with one win coming on an inspiring final-round performance at the Battle at the Beach on Feb. 16. The Bruins tied for first with University of Nevada, Las Vegas at the Southern Highlands Collegiate about a month later.
In postseason play, the Bruins have been unpredictable, to say the least. After posting a final round score of 370 (+15) at the Pac-10 Championships in a performance that Freeman called “absolutely and totally unacceptable,” the Bruins had a strong final round at the regionals in New Haven, Conn. to finish third, securing a spot in this week’s national championship.
Kim said that every shot is going to mean more this week.
“We need to get off to a good start, and we can’t waste shots out there,” Kim said. “We can’t fall asleep on one shot because every shot is important here.”
Rain has been forecast for Chattanooga throughout the tournament, adding to the difficulty of the course.