The Bruins folded in Vegas.
UCLA men’s golf tied for 13th out of 15 teams, finishing with a 23-over 887 at the Southern Highlands Collegiate in Las Vegas. The Bruins finished with their worst placement of the season just one week after earning third place, their best team finish, at the Southwestern Invitational in Westlake Village, California.
“This is the toughest golf course we’ve played up to this point this year,” said coach Derek Freeman. “It’s a test on every aspect of your game, from driving to approaching, chipping (and) putting.”
Senior Cole Madey paced the team, shooting a 4-over 220 to tie for 37th. Madey was the lone Bruin to score even par or better in two rounds.
“The course is very firm – it’s much more firm than other courses we’ve played at this year,” Madey said. “We had a few guys, including myself, who weren’t hitting it the way we wanted to this week. On a course that firm and difficult, it’s going to expose that more so than any other place.”
Junior Hidetoshi Yoshihara and sophomore Devon Bling were the other UCLA golfers who cracked the top 50. Yoshihara improved his score by one stroke each round, tying 48th place with a 6-over 222. Bling finished one stroke behind, tying for 50th.
“There’s some aspects I definitely need to work on, especially decision-making on the golf course and course management,” Yoshihara said. “I just put myself in a position where I couldn’t score (this week).”
UCLA shot 17-over in the first round, the worst team score of the day by four strokes. No Bruin broke par Sunday.
“(The course) tests you on how patient, smart and methodical you are,” Freeman said. “We just weren’t ready for it the first day. Because of that, it put us so far behind that we couldn’t play catch-up. We have to do a better job of understanding what is a good shot and what is a bad shot.”
UCLA rebounded with a 1-over 289 in the second round passing Florida and Central Florida, moving up to 13th place Monday.
The Bruins shot 5-over 887 in the final round Tuesday, tying for the third-worst score of the day, to finish tied for second-to-last with the Florida Gators.
“I felt like we had some nice momentum heading into (the tournament),” Freeman said. “It doesn’t set us back, but it teaches us how we need to approach the next three to four weeks of preparation.”
UCLA will resume play at the SeattleU Redhawk Invitational at University Place, Washington, from April 1 to April 2.