Men’s golf climbs back up leaderboard in NCAA championship
UCLA men’s golf senior Preston Valder scored a hole-in-one Sunday, helping spur the Bruins to a berth in the NCAA Tournament final round. (UCLA Athletics)
By Julie Song
June 1, 2015 2:05 a.m.
The UCLA men’s golf team struggled but bounced back to its original place – and after a disappointing second round, the Bruins are now back in contention.
The team started off safe in the first round, ranking 8th place out of 30 teams. However, in the second round the team fell all the way to 19th, with a total team score of 22-over par. The team’s usual leader, junior Jonathan Garrick, struggled significantly, and had the drop score of 84 (+12).
In the ongoing third round, UCLA worked its way back to 8th place, tied with Georgia Tech. The Bruins posted a solid score of 8-under par, making their total score of the tournament 14-over par, a big improvement from the previous round’s 22-over par. With the help of senior Preston Valder’s hole-in-one at the 14th hole, resulting in a score of 68 (-4) and Garrick’s 4-under-par, the Bruins made up their lost ground.
UCLA is slowly rising up the leaderboard, just in time for the upcoming match play. The team’s current score of 8-under par is the biggest improvement of the day, helping it skip about twelve places up the ladder.
Currently, No. 33 Georgia leads the tournament, and No. 13 USC follows after.
After the third round ends on Monday, the top 15 teams will advance to the final round, and they will play for the eight spots in the match play.
Compiled by Julie Song, Bruin Sports contributor.
