Men’s golf to open winter season with Anteater Invitational

The original version of this article contained an error and has been changed. See the bottom of the article for additional information.

The Bruins’ first tournament is the Anteater Invitational in Costa Mesa at the Mesa Verde country club. The tournament will begin Monday with rounds one and two and finish Tuesday with round three.

The Bruins have had almost three months off since their last tournament, but made sure not to let that time go to waste. The players worked hard on their games to get better for the upcoming season. Senior Anton Arboleda took a critical look at his game and focused on the areas he felt he needed to improve in.

“I worked a lot andphysically got stronger,” said Arboleda. “I really evaluated my game and took note of where I needed to improve.”

The Bruins went into the break after asixth-place finish at their own tournament, the Gifford Collegiate Championship. Coach Derek Freeman admitted that the Gifford Collegiate was a disappointment, but likes what he has seen coming out of the break and believes the team is looking forward to getting back into tournament play.

“We weren’t happy with our finish or how we played,” Freeman said. “Our guys understood they had a lot of work to do. … (But now), we have come off a long break. We’ve had some great practice, and everyone is looking forward to getting better and getting back into tournament mode.”

Most of the team will have to wait to get back into tournament mode though, as only three golfers – senior Anton Arboleda, junior Preston Valder and junior newcomer Kyle Pollema – will be heading to the Anteater Invitational to play as individual competitors.

Despite all three players competing in the tournament as individuals only, Valder still believes that the tournament will be able to help him be a better golfer when he does play with his teammates in future tournaments.

“A tournament is a tournament,” said Valder. “If you play well here you can draw on those good experiences and have them lead into some good play in the team tournaments.”

Correction: Two rounds of the Anteater Invitational were played Monday.