The UCLA men’s golf equivalent of the “Fab
Five” is starting to make winning a consistent habit.
The team of Steve Conway, Roy Moon, John Merrick, Travis Johnson
and Spencer Levin captured UCLA’s fifth title of the
2002-2003 season by winning the U.S. Intercollegiate on the
Stanford Golf Course in Palo Alto.
The No. 11 Bruins, winners of four of their last six
tournaments, were only one of three teams to finish the tournament
under par. UCLA finished 10 strokes clear of No. 8 ranked Oklahoma
State, compiling a three-round score of 840, 12-under par on the
par-71 course.
Head coach O.D. Vincent’s decision to give his regular
starters a rest earlier in the week when the team headed to Tempe,
Ariz. paid off with a wire-to-wire victory.
After the first of two days of competition on Saturday (two
rounds played), UCLA held a comfortable nine-shot lead going into
the final round.
Junior Roy Moon lit up Stanford Golf Course on Saturday with
rounds of 65 and 66, leaving him at 11-under par and holding a
two-shot lead. Moon’s 78 in the final round left him at
four-under par for the tournament and in a tie for sixth place.
Junior John Merrick posted three solid rounds of 69, 69 and 70
to finish at five-under par and in a tie for fourth place. Merrick
tied Oklahoma State’s Hunter Mahan, who finished as the
silver medalist in the 2002 U.S. Amateur and competed last weekend
in Augusta, Ga. at the Masters.
Junior Steve Conway, UCLA’s highest-ranked player and
individual winner of two tournaments this year, placed in a
three-way tie for 12th place at one-under par.
With Junior Travis Johnson’s one-over par, 19th place
finish, the Bruins fielded four players who finished among the top
20 individually, a very good sign the team has momentum and
consistency heading into the Pac-10 championships.
Freshman Spencer Levin, the only player to play in both
tournaments this past week, finished in a tie for 52nd place.
UCLA hosts the 2003 men’s Pacific-10 Championships from
April 28-30 at Oakmont Country Club in Glendale.
Arguably the most important tournament of the year to date, UCLA
will most likely enter as the second-highest ranked team behind No.
6 Arizona and its leader, Ricky Barnes, winner of the 2002 U.S.
Amateur and the top amateur at this year’s Masters.