UCLA not fazed by ninth-place finish in Pac-10 Championships

Thursday, 5/8/97 UCLA not fazed by ninth-place finish in Pac-10
Championships Selection method for NCAA regionals not dependent on
conference

By Chris Umpierre Daily Bruin Contributor The UCLA men’s golf
team is happy that the Pac-10 Championships don’t count towards
getting into the NCAA Regionals this year. Their ninth-place finish
in the conference championships in Eugene, Oregon, which concluded
on Wednesday, will not hurt the team’s chances for getting a bid
into the Regionals. Usually in the past, this kind of performance
would have hurt, and would have hurt bad for the team’s chances to
participate in Regional play. But because of a rare occurrence last
year, the Pac-10 championships will not count towards qualifying
for Regionals. Last year, the District 8 coaches accidentally
selected thirteen teams to play in the Regionals, instead of the
regular twelve teams. After they had become aware of their mistake,
the thirteenth team was sent home. In an attempt to not make the
same mistake this year, the District 8 coaches decided early this
year to have a national committee make the final selection of the
teams that qualify for Regionals. The district coaches chose 15
teams, whose names were then sent to the national committee. The
third party would then decide which 12 made the final cut. The
cutoff date to mail the15 names to the national committee was May
5, the first day of the Pac-10 championships. Thus, the conference
tournament will not count this year because the national committee
had already made their decision by then end of the competition on
Wednesday. The Bruins had been on the bubble with three other teams
for Regionals the whole year, when they posted a third-place finish
in the Stanford Invitational. That was the last tournament to count
towards the Regionals selection this season. UCLA Head Coach Brad
Sherfy believes that the solid finish in Palo Alto, combined with
the team’s prior three top-seven performances, pushed the team off
the bubble and into a spot in the Regionals. The Bruins hope to
bounce back from their poor play in the championships in time for
the NCAA Regionals May 15-17 in San Diego. UCLA will need to finish
in the top nine at the Regionals to qualify for the NCAA
Championships, which will be hosted by Northwestern in late
May.