Bruin men’s golf tees off as top seed at NCAA West Regional
Pedro Figueiredo and the Bruins will compete at the NCAA West Regional.
NCAA WEST REGIONAL
Today through Saturday
Rancho Santa Fe
By Manny Redruello
May 19, 2011 12:22 a.m.
The NCAA regionals are anything other than just another tournament. But if you were to talk to both players and coaches on the UCLA men’s golf team, you might get the impression that they were headed for just that.
“It’s just a tournament like any other; the format is the same,” sophomore Pedro Figueiredo said. “So we just have to play as we did all season and things will work out.”
The No. 4 Bruins were granted the top seed in the NCAA Men’s Golf West Regional, where they will begin competition today at The Farms Golf Course in Rancho Sante Fe.
Traveling south for the Bruins will be an experienced quintet of accomplished golfers. Of the five Bruins competing in the five-count-four tournament, only freshman Patrick Cantlay has not played in at least one prior NCAA regional.
It’s doubtful that anybody is worried whether Cantlay, currently the No. 4-ranked golfer in the nation, will have any trouble in his first postseason appearance.
“It’s always better when (Cantlay) plays well, because he has the capability of playing well,” coach Derek Freeman said. “But if he doesn’t play well, we have other guys who can pick up the slack.”
If Cantlay does get into trouble, he will have juniors Gregor Main and Alex Kim, as well as sophomores Figueiredo and Pontus Widegren, to lean on.
Those four players have a combined 18 rounds of regional tournament play between them, and should have no problems with postseason pressures.
With a history of success, expectations are high for top-seeded UCLA. The Bruins have advanced from the regionals to the NCAA Championship for a school-record eight years straight, and are hoping to extend that streak to nine at the conclusion of this year’s tournament.
“We will have to play well. … It’s always competitive,” assistant coach Jason Sigler said. “Coach Freeman, since he’s been here, has always made regionals, so I know that’s a streak that he wants to continue.”
But if UCLA is to advance out of this tournament and into the Championship in Stillwater, Okla. on May 31, it must finish in the top five out of 13 teams in Rancho Sante Fe. Likely to pose the biggest challenges for the Bruins will be No. 10 Texas and No. 20 USC.
“We are confident because you have to finish in the top five to get into Nationals,” Figueiredo said. “But we can’t play to try to be in the top five. We have to play this tournament like we’ve played any other, with a mentality to win it.”
