Men’s golf finishes ninth in The Prestige at PGA West
Redshirt senior Manav Shah finished six-under par at the Prestige at PGA WEST. (Courtesy of Don Liebig/ASUCLA)
By Alexander Hyun
Feb. 19, 2015 1:16 a.m.
The men’s golf team came away disappointed for the second straight week after finishing ninth this week at The Prestige at PGA WEST.
Collectively the Bruins finished with a score of five-under par, however the Bruins were far from the competition as first place Arizona State recorded a score of 31-under par.
“Overall, as individuals, we didn’t play as well as we wanted to,” said junior Lorens Chan. “It’s kind of the same story as Hawaii, so we need to have a better week or preparation and get ready for the next tournament.”
Chan finished the tournament with a score of three-over par, and did not score under par during the tournament.
Junior Jake Knapp and redshirt senior Manav Shah shot three-under par and six-under par respectively in the tournament keeping the Bruins in contention.
However, senior Matt Pinizzotto, senior Preston Valder, along with Chan collectively scored 15-over par. Pinizzotto struggled in the final round shooting for a seven-over par.
“To be honest, there were a lot of birdie opportunities out there and the course wasn’t that challenging,” Knapp said. “I think the guys were a little off this week, and I don’t think it had to do with the conditions; we just have to play better.”
Despite finishing with a score of 3-under par, Knapp had his share of obstacles particularly in the second round where he shot 3-over par as opposed to the first and third rounds where he scored 3-under par on each day.
The Bruins have struggled thus far in the spring season, but they said the return of junior Jonathan Garrick in the following tournament should give the team a boost heading down the stretch.
“We haven’t had a full lineup yet with two of our players playing in professional events in the last two weeks with Jake and Jonathan, so that’s been part of our struggles,” said coach Derek Freeman. “We’re not necessarily going to play well just because Jonathan comes back, but when you get the core group together, then everyone gets on the same page and that gives us a better chance to be successful.”
Things have not been looking up, but the team said it’s optimistic about making big improvements before the postseason.
“The discrepancy (between having a good and bad round) is so small that sometimes you don’t even know what the difference is, so for us we just have to make sure we properly evaluate what went wrong and make sure we improve everyday because everything is building towards the postseason,” Freeman said.
The men continue their season at the John Hayt Collegiate Invitational tournament next week in Florida.
