The Bruins returned from their hiatus but didn’t have the best of starts, as they wound up in 10th place in the Amer Ari Invitational at the Waikoloa Beach Resort Kings’ Course in Hawaii, scoring 23-under par as a team.
“We didn’t play as a team overall,” said junior Lorens Chan. “We played better each day as the tournament progressed, but it wasn’t close to how we played in the fall, so it was disappointing.”
The Bruins share the 10th spot with Stanford, behind the eventual champions Arizona State.
Chan played relatively consistently throughout the tournament as he scored even, 2-under par and 2-under par respectively in each round.
Nevertheless, the performances that kept the Bruins in contention for a 10th-place finish were that of junior Jonathan Garrick and redshirt senior Manav Shah.
Garrick struggled in the first two rounds, particularly during the second round, during which he recorded three bogeys and a double bogey, squandering his four-birdie start.
However, Garrick would pull through with an impressive third round, scoring 7-under par with five birdies and an eagle.
Shah had a different story as he started the tournament 5-under par, recording seven birdies on the first day.
He would go on to score 1-under par and 3-under par in the remaining two rounds respectively.
“I stayed patient, and I was pretty relaxed throughout the whole week with a good state of mind,” Shah said. “Overall, in the first couple days, we didn’t play well, but we finally had a couple good rounds on the last day – especially with Jonathan, as he shot 7-under par. We were just too far back to make a big move.”
The Bruins said they look to start faster and improve quickly, as they only have five more tournaments before the Pac-12 championship.
“The tournament was a good starting point – especially after coming back from the offseason – but we unfortunately got off to a slow start and couldn’t catch up,” said coach Derek Freeman. “We just need to realize that we don’t have time to wait because the competition is too good and we have to be ready from the first tee-ball.”
The Bruins will get that opportunity on Feb. 16 at The Prestige at PGA WEST tournament.