Men’s golf falls behind on par-3 holes at Georgia Collegiate Invitational
Coach Derek Freeman (right) said he wasn’t pleased with UCLA men’s golf’s performance at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate Invitational. Junior Devon Bling was comfortably under par in the first round but shot a combined 7-over 151 across rounds two and three. (Courtesy of Don Liebig/UCLA Athletics)
By Jacqueline Dzwonczyk
Oct. 23, 2019 1:24 a.m.
The Bruins lost the biggest on the shortest holes last weekend.
UCLA men’s golf shot 27-over on par-3s at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate Invitational in Alpharetta, Georgia, from Friday through Sunday. The Bruins were top-five finishers on both par-4s and par-5s in those same three rounds, but were tied in last place for par-3s.
“That’s probably one of the key points,” said coach Derek Freeman. “It’s the type of golf course where the par-3s are challenging and difficult, but you have to do a good job of managing that, and we did not.”
UCLA finished the first day of the tournament tied for fourth place with a 3-under 285 and moved into third place the next day despite shooting 4-over. The Bruins and the rest of the field struggled with weather conditions in the second round.
UCLA finished in fifth place with a 4-over 292 on Sunday. However, junior Eddy Lai finished tied for first place, earning the first victory of his collegiate career.
“We were in a really nice position to play well and have a good tournament and have a chance to win,” Freeman said. “Our guys did not perform well outside of (Lai on Sunday).”
Lai was on the leaderboard for par-3, par-4 and par-5 scoring. He finished the weekend tied for 14th in par-3s and par-5s, shooting 2-over and 4-under, respectively. Lai’s 5-under score across par-4s was the best of any player at the tournament.
The Bruins’ next best scorer, sophomore Bryan Wiyang Teoh, finished tied for 19th but shot 7-over on par-3s. Sophomore Sean Maruyama was the worst scorer for UCLA, tying for 71st, and was 8-over on par-3s.
Both Teoh and Maruyama were in the bottom-five par-3 scorers over the weekend.
“We also had two big numbers – both (Teoh) and (Maruyama) had big numbers on par-3s, and you just can’t have that,” Freeman said.
The Bruins will have a week off before having two more chances to improve their par-3 scoring this fall.
“We only have two tournaments left, and I feel pretty good,” Lai said. “This is by far my best finish, so I feel like if I can play well here then I can play well against anybody, anywhere.”
