The No. 4 UCLA men’s golf team entered the national championship with extremely high expectations.
After two rounds of play, the Bruins are nowhere near where they would like to be, performing at a level much lower than expected and sitting in a corresponding position.
After two days of frustrating competition for UCLA, the team moved into a tie with No. 13 Georgia Tech for sixth place in the 110th NCAA Men’s Golf Championship in Williamsburg, Va. The Bruins scored even in the second round and were 3-over par with a total score of 563. Stanford was in the overall lead, shooting a 553, 7-under par.
Earlier in the week, junior Kevin Chappell said that there were probably not going to be any surprise performances at the nationals. But the whole tournament has been one long run of unexpected results for teams who were not ranked in the top 10 before the start of the championship.
After 36 holes, No. 2 Minnesota sits in second place right behind Stanford. In the second round, the Golden Gophers scored lower than the Cardinal by hitting 4-under par, collecting a two-day total score of 554, 6-under par.
The 68th-ranked Bronson LaCassie from Minnesota was in the lead after the second round of the tournament where he scored 5-under par, having a two-day total of 132, 8-under par.
For the Bruins, not a lot went well in the very early going. After the first day, the Bruins were tied for ninth place with an overall score of 283, 3-over par. Stanford was in first place with 275, 5-under par. Most of the individual top 10 was tied among different schools.
Sophomore Lucas Lee had an early double bogey in the second round, followed by three birdies and two bogeys, which set him back to 14th place with 1-over par, 71.
But Lee was able to salvage the day with an eagle with four birdies in the first round, and finished play as the only Bruin who shot under par in a 70-par course.
Chappell continued his inauspicious streak from the first round by scoring 2-over par, ending the day tied for 91st place.
The rest of the team seemed to be struggling. Junior Daniel Im and freshman Jason Kang posted scores of 71 (+1) and were tied for 51st.
Overall, the Bruins’ performance the past two days has been unexpectedly disappointing for the team and players, not living up to their recent, more consistent play.
A significant portion of the field has been right alongside the Bruins with uncharacteristically high scores. No. 1 ranked Georgia is placed below the Bruins’ tie for 16th place.
This year’s national championship has had many surprise showings already. With competition continuing today and concluding on Saturday, the Bruins are hoping for an immediate turnaround to climb in the standings.