The 13th-ranked UCLA men’s golf team knew it had to get
off to a quick start in Wednesday’s opening round of the NCAA
Championships in order to contend for the title later in the
week.
So when Chris Heintz and Kevin Chappell birdied their first hole
in the first round to put the Bruins under-par, it appeared UCLA
was positioning itself well for the rest of the 72-hole
tournament.
But that momentum proved to be very short-lived.
After a brief stretch of good golf to open the round, the Bruins
came crashing down the leaderboard at Caves Valley Golf Club in
Baltimore on Wednesday, finishing the first day tied for 28th place
in the 30-team field.
The Bruins’ 19-over par total, their highest of the 2005
season, puts them 25 shots behind first-round leader Georgia, who
finished Wednesday with a collective 6-under par total.
Though not many believed that UCLA would pose a serious threat
to claim the title before the tournament even began, few expected
the Bruins to struggle the way they did.
UCLA’s low round of the day belonged to the upstart
Chappell, whose 3-over par 73 in his opening round was barely below
Wednesday’s 73.19 overall stroke average and can only be
considered a mediocre round.
After Chappell, who led UCLA in its previous two postseason
tournaments with consecutive top-10 finishes, none of the remaining
four Bruins were able to muster more than a whimper at Caves Valley
on Wednesday.
Senior John Poucher, the only player on the team to have played
in a championship event, was expected to lead the young and
untested Bruins, but he struggled just as much as his inexperienced
teammates.
Looking to put his past disappointing championship performances
behind him, Poucher instead opened up the last event of his
collegiate career with a 7-over par 77, the highest round to count
toward UCLA’s total on Wednesday.
So while they came into the NCAA Championships expecting to rely
on Chappell and Poucher, the Bruins quickly realized they will now
have to depend on every player on the team to play his best for the
remainder of the tournament.
And though the considerable 25-shot deficit may appear to be too
large to overcome, UCLA still believes it has an outside chance
given that the championship is a four-round event. But the Bruins
know that posting another round similar to Wednesday’s will
undoubtedly cement their slim title hopes.
So while they want to get out to another fast start, this time
UCLA needs to sustain that momentum for more than just a few
holes.
FRINGE FACTS: The UCLA team carded nearly four times as many
bogeys and double bogeys as it did birdies on Wednesday. … Though
Joakim Renstrom (11-over par 81) was the only Bruin not to post a
double bogey in the first round, he was also the only Bruin to not
post a birdie. … UCLA will tee off at 5:03 a.m. PST off the 10th
hole in today’s second round.