The UCLA men’s golf team racked up the miles yet again over Easter as they made the 2,000-mile trip to West Lafayette, Ind. to take part in the Purdue Boilermaker Invitational.
Following their victorious return from Seattle just 12 days before, the No. 16 Bruins claimed third place overall at 871 (+7) at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex, and are in good form heading into the Pac-12 Championships this weekend.
“It has been good to see our game progress over these last two weeks and we feel like we have a great chance moving forward,” said senior Anton Arboleda who tied for 26th at 222 (+6). “There was a lot of good stuff this weekend but I don’t think we played up to our own high standards and we all have areas of our game that we can clean up.”
The Bruins left their best for last in the three-round competition, as sophomore Lorens Chan hit a 67 (-5) on Sunday to guide the team to a score of 283 (-5), by far their lowest total of the tournament.
“I didn’t hit it extremely well but I was able to put the ball where I needed to in order to score,” said Chan, who finished in third place individually with an overall score of 211 (-5). “I think we can class it as a decent round overall, we had good and bad rounds and managed to finish third.”
Fellow sophomore Jonathan Garrick also put in another strong performance as he tied for sixth place scoring a 215 (-1).
The other UCLA starters, sophomore Jake Knapp and junior Preston Valder, ended with totals of 223 (+7) and 226 (+10) respectively.
Junior Matt Pinizzotto also participated as an individual in the competition and weighed in with a 224 (+8), which left him with a share of 39th position.
The Bruins trailed winners Iowa, 865 (+1), by six shots, but will take heart from the fact that they are all getting into the groove of playing good golf at just the right time.
“Hopefully we will all peak over the next few days because the Pac-12s will be tough,” Chan said. “There are a lot of good teams, but I think we have a good chance at it.”
“We have a lot of good players on the roster so we could do some damage.”
The Pac-12 Men’s Golf Championships runs April 25-27 in Marana, Ariz.
Compiled by Doug Gadsby, Bruin Sports contributor