Men’s golf earns No. 3 seed in NCAA Regionals
By Jordan Lee
May 5, 2014 6:26 p.m.
The UCLA men’s golf team earned its 23rd consecutive NCAA Regional berth on Monday afternoon and will be the No. 3 seed in San Antonio.
The Bruins are hoping to keep another streak alive and advance to the NCAA Men’s Golf Championships for the 12th consecutive year but will face stiff competition.
Joining No. 16 UCLA in Texas will be the region’s top overall seed, No. 6 Georgia, as well as fellow top-25 teams, No. 7 Central Florida and No. 15 Vanderbilt.
There also figures to be several competitive teams from the region’s lower seeds as Columbia, Georgia State and the College of Charleston all won their respective conferences.
NCAA regional play is comprised of six different regions with 13 to 14 teams in a given region. The top five teams from each region will advance to the NCAA Championships, held between May 23-28 in Hutchinson, Kan. Joining them will be the top individual players from each non-advancing team.
If No. 16 UCLA hopes to be among the team’s still golfing later this month, it must improve upon an uneven month of play. The Bruins reeled off three straight top-three finishes before finishing a disappointing seventh at the Pac-12 Championships in late April – the team’s most recent competition.
However the Bruins are not alone in conference struggles – Georgia finished fourth and Vanderbilt placed 11th in the 14-team SEC conference tournament.
Notable individual players in the region include Georgia’s Joey Garber and Lee McCoy, Central Florida’s Greg Eason, SMU’s Bryson Dechambeau and TCU’s Julien Brun.
Compiled by Jordan Lee, Bruin Sports senior staff.
