Men's golf finishes strong second at U.S. Collegiate Championship in Georgia
By Daily Bruin Staff
Oct. 27, 2010 1:09 a.m.
After starting the season with an impressive second-place finish at the NCAA Fall Preview to open the year, the UCLA men’s golf team took another second-place finish at the U.S. Collegiate Championship at The Golf Club of Georgia.
The Bruins earned themselves a No. 1 ranking for their finish at the Fall Preview, but didn’t live up to the billing as the top team in the nation this weekend. It was clear early on in the three-day event that the Bruins would be competing for second place.
The No. 14 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets ran away with the title, dominating the competition on their home course by shooting a 836 (-28), 27 strokes ahead of the second-place Bruins.
No. 16 Texas A&M finished in third at 866 (+2). The Yellow Jackets jumped out to an early lead by shooting 271 (-17) and never looked back.
Georgia Tech didn’t just seize control of the team competition. Junior James White took home the individual trophy as well, finishing with a score of 204 (-12). USC’s T.J. Vogel came in five strokes behind at second place, while Texas A&M’s Jordan Russell placed third.
Freshman Patrick Cantlay, a highly-touted recruit from last year’s small UCLA recruiting class, was impressive in just his second collegiate tournament. Cantlay tied for seventh place individually by carding a 215 (-1) at the tournament.
The play of sophomore Mario Clemens came as a pleasant surprise for coach Derek Freeman’s team. Clemens also finished in a tie for seventh by shooting an identical score to Cantlay’s.
Junior Gregor Main wasn’t far behind, firing a 216 (E) for the tournament and finishing in a tie for 14th. Junior Alex Shi Yup Kim finished in a tie for 57th place, but his score was not attributed to UCLA’s team total, following the tournament’s five-count-four format.
UCLA sophomore Pontus Widegren, the nation’s No. 2 player coming into Sunday’s opening round, tied for 17th place with a 218 (+2).
Noticeably absent from the UCLA lineup this week was sophomore Pedro Figueiredo.
Figueiredo exploded onto the collegiate golf scene last fall as a freshman by recording four top-10 finishes. In his lone tournament of this season, however, Figueiredo was less than impressive with a score of 229 (+13), finishing in 37th place.
Freeman opted to go with Clemens this week and kept the rest of the lineup the same. Clemens seized the opportunity and secured his best finish as a Bruin. His highest finish last season came at the NCAA East Regional where he tied for eighth.
Compiled by Sam Strong, Bruin Sports senior staff.
