With one round remaining, the Bruins were on the cusp of taking the lead at the Windon Memorial Classic.
They crept up to first place early Tuesday morning, but they couldn’t hold their ground on the final back nine.
“We just had five guys play really poor golf,” coach Derek Freeman said. “I had never really had it happen like that before. Guys played bad at the same time and it cost us dearly, and we dropped to the middle of the pack.”
No. 21 UCLA men’s golf finished seventh at the Windon Memorial Classic – the Bruins’ second straight seventh-place finish – despite entering the final round in second. And for the second week in a row, senior Jack Ireland was the top performer for UCLA, with a 2-under 214 in the tournament.
“Anytime you have a senior playing well, it’s great for the younger guys to see that,” Freeman said. “We love it when our guys are playing well, and I think he has done a nice job of setting the tone early.”
As for the Bruins’ inability to hold their late lead, Freeman cites his team’s hectic schedule to start the fall season.
“We started (the season), we came back, and we immediately … left for our event,” Freeman said. “I probably should have given us a little more time to prepare, but these guys are still good.”
UCLA was in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, from Sept. 16-18 before traveling to Lake Forest, Illinois, for the Windon on Monday and Tuesday. There were also Bruin representatives at individual tournaments in Sugar Grove, Illinois, and in Erie, Colorado.
“I think it was tough being gone for two weeks,” Ireland said. “It’s a long time to be away. You’re not sleeping in your own bed, you’re not doing everything that you’re used to doing.”
Ireland had a 3-under second round and finished the tournament tied for eighth.
Junior Hidetoshi Yoshihara and freshman Sean Maruyama were the next Bruins on the leaderboard, both tying for 20th. Maruyama was not in the lineup, however, after Freeman chose to remove him from the lineup after he tied for 56th at the Golfweek Conference Challenge last week.
It was another middling result for the Bruins by the end of the week, but Freeman was proud of the talent his team showcased early on.
“For 48 holes, we played some of the best golf in the tournament,” Freeman said.
Adjusting to new environments
The Bruins in Illinois had a very different experience than the players in Colorado.
Freshman Bryan Wiyang Teoh had the highest finish for UCLA at the Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational this week, but he said it was difficult adjusting to the hilly course and high altitude.
“It took a lot more planning for each shot than it is in LA or other flatter places,” Teoh said. “The final day, I tried to stick to the game plan and tried to make smarter decisions than I did the second day and I was able to improve a couple shots.”
Meanwhile, Ireland said the course in Lake Forest was a nice, new experience for the Bruins.
“I felt pretty good,” Ireland said. “The golf course we played was beautiful, it was nice to go all the way to Chicago and see some different conditions.”
UCLA will get back on the links when it travels to Alpharetta, Georgia, for the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate on Oct. 19-21.