Thursday, 5/15/97 Bruins must master their inconstancy M. GOLF:
Team prepares for NCAA Regionals in shadow of poor showings
By Chris Umpierre Daily Bruin Contributor UCLA sent a men’s golf
team to San Diego to participate in the NCAA West Regionals today
through Saturday. But what team will show up? "Will it be the team
that finished third in the U.S. Intercollegiates or will it be the
team that finished ninth in the Pac-10 Championships?," assistant
head coach Glen Toth pondered. "It’s impossible to say, that’s
what’s so enigmatic about this team." If the team that placed third
in the U.S. Intercollegiates at Palo Alto shows up, the other 17
teams in attendance at the regionals will have a run for their
money. But if the team that placed ninth out of 10 teams at the
Pacific 10 Championships – the inconsistent team that was seen
regularly at the beginning of the season – shows up, the Bruins
could be quickly packing their golf bags for Westwood just after
arriving in San Diego. The Bruins’ fall and winter tournaments were
plagued by inconsistency. But the team seemed to have settled down,
putting together a string of top 10 finishes (including the
third-place finish in the U.S. Intercollegiates) before stalling at
the Pac-10 Championships in Oregon. The team returned to its
inconsistent ways at the conference championships. The Bruins shot
two horrendous rounds, but between those two rounds shot a round
that was the best in the entire tournament by any team. "We were
plagued by the same inconsistency in Oregon that has marked us for
the entire season," Toth said. The Bruins may have regressed to
their old and inconsistent ways, or maybe they weren’t as motivated
as they needed to be. After all, the team knew going into the
Pac-10’s that the tournament would not count towards getting into
regionals, and was for all intents and purposes meaningless.
Nevertheless, the Bruins must leave their inconsistency in Oregon,
as they will have to finish in the top nine in the Regionals to
qualify for the NCAA Championships, which will be held from May
28-31 in Illinois. The Bruins are seeded No. 11 out of the 12 teams
selected from District 8 for the regionals. Six teams from District
7 will also be in attendance to make up a very competitive field.
The No. 1 UNLV Running Rebels will be in San Diego as well as with
other notables such as No. 5 USC, No. 7 Arizona State and No. 8
Arizona. Toth and many other Bruin faithfuls don’t know which team
will show up in San Diego. The only people who can control which
team will show up are the players. "It’s hard to tell which team
will show up," Toth added. "We’re unpredictable. It wouldn’t
surprise me if we did qualify for the Championships and it wouldn’t
surprise me if we didn’t." * * * Sophomore Brandon DiTullio, who
has been at the No. 1 spot for the Bruins the entire year, was
selected to the All Pac-10 second team. No other Bruin earned such
honors. Scott McCarron, a UCLA alumnus, won the PGA Bell South
Classic in Duluth, Georgia over the weekend, taking home
$270,000.