The Bruins ended their regular season on a high note.
UCLA men’s golf finished third at the ASU Thunderbird Collegiate in Phoenix, Arizona, shooting a 7-under 845 in its final tournament of the regular season.
The Bruins played two full rounds Friday, scoring 1-under and even par, respectively. Senior Cole Madey paced the team at 4-under on Friday.
In the final round, UCLA shot 6-under, the second-best round of the day, moving up two spots to third place out of 14 teams.
“We knew it would be difficult coming to Arizona State’s golf course, where they play every day, and try to outcompete them,” said coach Derek Freeman. “But our guys did a great job. They fought hard and played very well, so I was super excited about how they performed this week.”
Senior Patrick Murphy tied for third at 6-under, earning his best individual placement of the season. Murphy shot 4-under in the final round Saturday, tying for the best round of the day.
“I played really solid, and honestly, it couldn’t have come at a better time,” Murphy said. “We’ve got a lot of momentum as a team, and to get a top-three (finish) was awesome.”
Madey finished tied for eighth at 3-under after shooting 1-over in the final round.
“I didn’t chip too well this week, and I didn’t make as many putts as I would’ve liked,” Madey said. “(But) I started to hit my irons better than I did in the previous weeks.”
Junior Hidetoshi Yoshihar shot 2-over to finish tied for 28th. Sophomore Eddy Lai finished one stroke behind Yoshihara to tie for 34th. Lai finished tied for second among the field in par-three scoring.
Senior Jack Ireland and freshman Sean Maruyama tied for 41st and 72nd, respectively. Maruyama competed as an individual.
After middling team placements throughout much of the regular season, UCLA has placed in the top three in all three of their April tournaments, including back-to-back victories at the SeattleU Redhawk Invitational and the Wyoming Cowboy Classic.
“I think early in the season, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to win, and we were looking at positions on the leaderboards a lot,” Murphy said. “Now, we are just focused on golf and just trying to play as well as we can without worrying about the outcome.”
The Bruins will next compete in the Pac-12 championships in Eugene, Oregon, from April 22-24.