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The UCLA men’s golf team ended its fall season with a huge letdown at the Second Annual CordeValle Collegiate tournament hosted by UCLA in San Martin on Nov. 6 and 7. The No. 2 Bruins tied with Washington for seventh place with a middling score of 860

(-4).

“We’re not happy at all about how we played,” assistant coach Derek Freeman said.

The Bruins had been the favorites coming into this tournament, but could not meet the expectations.

They were expected to repeat last year’s success at CordeValle, taking the tournament by six shots over Northwestern.

This time around the story was different. Northwestern’s performance this year was far better and they tied for fifth with nine shots over the Bruins.

The main problem of the tournament was not that the Bruins were not good, but instead that UCLA had a “bunch of No. 2 and No. 3 players,” coach O.D. Vincent said. To win a tournament the school needs a great amount of improvement from individual players on particular areas of the game. In particular, most players on the team need attention on their short game.

The Bruins were not ready for the type of competition where a number of highly ranked teams would be present.

“Mentally we weren’t prepared. Physically we didn’t prepare properly as well,” Freeman said.

Despite their dissatisfaction with their performance, the Bruins still finished in the top 10. However, it was Stanford’s performance that had everybody talking. The No. 10 Cardinal took the tournament with force, coming in first with an astounding two-day score of 822 (-42).

“It was as impressive of a performance I’ve ever seen,” Vincent said, “They absolutely dominated the field.”

Cardinal Zack Miller set a course record at 63. Miller and Cardinal Rob Grube had a combined score of 28 under.

Vincent was fascinated: “You have to just respect and admire that.”

Vincent’s hopes are to get the Bruin golfers playing at a greater individual level. Losing at CordeValle has UCLA ending its season on a note that doesn’t necessarily promise much, except a lot more practice during the off season.

“We definitely need to improve in that area,” Vincent said about the individual performances of the players. Even though the Bruins showed more character on the second day, they were still unable to put their clubs together and pull out a win.

Sophomore Daniel Im who had started the tournament tied at 8th place, finished tied for 12th with a total score of 211 (-5). The tournament was led by Stanford’s Miller and Grube, who tied for first with a three-round total of 202 (-14). They were followed by USC’s Jamie Lovemark coming in third with a final score of 204 (-12).

Bruin freshman Jason Kang improved on his game during the second day of the tournament, shooting a final round score of 68 (-4), bringing him up from No. 73 to No. 43.

“Any time you host an event you’re taking that chance (that you might lose),” Vincent said. “As long as you learn from it, it can be a great experience.”