If you’ve ever played hide-and-seek at a friends’
house, you know that your friend has the distinct advantage of
knowing the nuances of every secret hiding place.
Strangely enough, the No. 11 UCLA men’s golf team will
share a similar home-course advantage when the squad travels to
Washington to participate in the NCAA West Regional, which starts
today.
The competition, spanning three rounds, will be played at
Washington National Club and hosted by the University of
Washington.
UCLA head coach O.D. Vincent and his father developed and
constructed the Washington National Club while the younger Vincent
was still coaching at the University of Washington. The course,
specifically designed to host prestigious tournaments, will play
extremely long and difficult at 7,304 yards.
“We developed it, and we built it with major collegiate
events in mind,” Vincent said. “I just never thought
I’d represent another school.”
Although his unique familiarity with the course is a slight
advantage for Bruin players, Vincent believes the real advantage
will lie somewhere else.
“I think the advantage is that old friends and family in
Seattle will root on UCLA because they’re supporting
me,” Vincent said. “I think these guys will feel a lot
more support than just going to some tournament some place where
none of us know anyone. It’s going to feel like a second-home
to them, although they don’t know that yet.”
The Bruins will send the same five-man lineup that trounced the
competition at the Pac-10 Championships. The junior-laden lineup of
Steve Conway, Roy Moon, John Merrick, Travis Johnson and John
Poucher will look to prove that UCLA is worthy of its top seed in
the extremely competitive regional. The 27-team field includes 12
conference champions and seven teams ranked in the top 25. Only the
top 10 teams will advance to Oklahoma and play in the NCAA
Championship.
“The Pac-10 Champion the last two years has not advanced
past the West Region,” Vincent said. “The West Regional
is extremely difficult, and you have to play well to get through,
it’s not just another tournament before the NCAAs. We are
taking it very seriously, and we’re very excited about it.
We’re there to win.”
According to Vincent, the course he helped build will provide
his team with a stern test this week.
“The golf course is long, pretty open, and has very big
greens,” Vincent said. “I think the scoring will be
fairly high.
“It’s a major, major test of golf. You have to have
your best game out.”
Along with playing golf in the state of Washington comes the
likely expectation of weather wreaking havoc; Vincent said he is
preparing for rain every day. Weather or not, the coach knows of
the unpredictability in golf, and despite his team’s
monumental success this season, they can’t take anything for
granted.
“It only matters how we play from this point
forward,” Vincent said. “If we keep playing well,
it’s going to be remembered as a great year. If we
don’t, it’s going to end on a sour note. We don’t
want to do that.”