M. golf sends six-man roster to Pac-10 tourney
By Hye Kwon
Daily Bruin Staff
It’s time for a gut check for the UCLA men’s golf team as it
tees off at the Pac-10 Championships starting today in Richland,
Wash.
The Bruins have been slumping in their latest outings. In their
last four tournaments, which cover a timespan of nearly two months,
the Bruins have consistently finished out of the top 10. However,
the Pac-10 Championships mark the start of a much anticipated
postseason where past woes mean little. The only thing that matters
is what the team does henceforth.
"We haven’t had all five players do well for a long time," UCLA
head coach Dave Atchison said. "If that happens, then good things
are in front of us."
Course conditions will likely play a big factor at Richland.
Located in a city where desert winds usually blow at 30 to 40 miles
per hour, the Meadows Springs Country Club has been known to give
golfers all kinds of problems.
"We’ve been practicing hitting the balls real low," Atchison
said. "We don’t want the wind to mess around with them."
A new element that UCLA and its opponents must deal with at the
par-72, 6,750-yard Meadows Springs Country Club is the six-man
format the the tournament will use. That means every team will have
to add another golfer to its usual five-man starting roster.
Atchison is optimistic that the six-man format will favor his
squad.
"The format will definitely suit those teams that have good
depth," Atchison said.
The sixth golfer for UCLA will be Trevor Arts. Last year, he
finished the season second on the team with a 74.64 scoring
average.
Another key golfer for the Bruins will be junior Eric Lohman. At
the U.S. Intercollegiate Invites last week, Lohman led the
tournament after two rounds and eventually finished third. On the
first day of competition, Lohman posted a total of 67, which was a
career-best mark.