After the first round of play on Sunday at The Prestige at PGA West tournament, the UCLA men’s golf team took the lead with 280 (-8).
But the Bruins never established a stable footing at the top of the leaderboard as they fell to a tie for fourth place with No. 12 USC, totaling 872 (+8) at the PGA West Stadium Course in La Quinta.
Finishing head and shoulder above the rest of the field, No. 27 TCU fired a tournament best 276 (-12) in the final round and captured the tournament title, totaling 850 (-14) in the event hosted by No. 8 Stanford and UC Davis. Stanford finished second 866 (+2), and No. 4 Washington came in third, just three strokes behind the Cardinal.
Freshmen Pedro Figueiredo, who placed second individually in the tournament, kept the Bruins near the top of the leaderboard with consistent play throughout the week, totaling 210 (-6) in the tournament.
“He is an extremely talented player and he has played all over the world,” said coach Derek Freeman. “He did everything well, he chipped well, he played well. The guy that won the tournament just went off and beat everyone. He played extremely well.”
That guy is TCU’s freshman Daniel Jennevret, who helped his team sweep the tournament with an individual score of 204 (-12).
Figueiredo and freshman Pontus Widegren led the UCLA team in Sunday’s opening round, each scoring 69 (-3) on the first day, trailing the first-round leaders by only one stroke.
“We felt great after the first day,” Freeman said. “We were really encouraged. We had worked hard and we felt great. Everyone played great.”
Monday led to a rougher day of play for the young Bruin team, as UCLA dropped to third behind TCU and Stanford after registering a second-round score of 299 (+11). Meanwhile, the Trojans closely tailed UCLA, trailing the Bruins by only two strokes after round two.
But the Bruins couldn’t stop slipping.
Tuesday left the Bruins with yet another disappointing round, as they tried to recover with a third-round score of 293 (+5). UCLA’s performance wasn’t enough as Washington squeaked ahead with a 287 (-1) performance in the final round.
But the Bruins were the only unranked team to reach the top five in the tournament, showing some of the potential that Freeman hoped to see. UCLA used the opportunity to emphasize that their young team would not keep them from being a top competitor this year.
“I think this golf course is a very difficult golf course and it demands you execute shots the right way and you perform at a level we didn’t perform at,” Freeman said. “Some due to inexperience and some due to poor execution. We learned a lot, and that’s what is most important. It was good to see where we stand and how we are in competition.”
The Bruins hope to take advantage of this early opportunity to learn a lot about themselves, and hope to improve before next month’s second tournament, the Gifford Collegiate in San Martin.
“We definitely have some weaknesses that we have to address,” Freeman said. “Over the next couple of days Ryan (Ressa), the assistant coach, and I will spend some time putting together a practice plan and figure out where our weaknesses are.”