Bruins miss NCAA Championship berth

By Sean Green

Daily Bruin Contributor

Despite great play from its two top players, the No. 20 UCLA
men’s golf team struggled to a 16th place finish at the NCAA
West Regionals.

The Bruins’ 54-hole total of 869 was four strokes shy of
what they needed to qualify for NCAA Championships in a week and a
half.

“They gave it all they could,” head coach Brad
Sherfy said. “They definitely didn’t roll
over.”

Arizona won the event by four strokes over Brigham Young and
UNLV. UCLA senior Brandon DiTullio and sophomore Parker McLachlin
both finished in the top ten ““ DiTullio’s finish earned
him a berth in nationals as an individual. He tied for fifth with a
six-under par total of 210, while McLachlin placed ninth at
five-over par 211.

The men started off strongly in round one. Led by
McLachlin’s five-under par 67, the team’s low round of
the tournament, UCLA found itself in ninth place at the day’s
end.

DiTullio shot his best round of the event on day one as well,
firing a three-under par 69. Freshman Travis Johnson shot a
respectable two-over par 74, but both junior Steve Wagner and
senior Jason Semelsberger carded disappointing five-over par
77s.

Still the team was where it needed to be to earn a berth into
the national tournament.

But on the second day of this tournament, no UCLA golfer could
break 70, and the team score suffered.

DiTullio and McLachlin both shot two-under par 70s and Johnson
managed a 73. Semelsberger and Wagner shot 76s, and for the second
straight day the team was forced to take a score in the high
70s.

“All year we haven’t gotten any production out of
the bottom end of our lineup,” Sherfy said.

Sitting in a tie for eleventh entering the final round, the
Bruins knew they had to make up some ground. DiTullio did his job
once again by breaking par to finish in a tie for fifth, but just
like the day before, nobody shot in the 60s.

Other than DiTullio’s one-under par score, nobody else
could shoot even.

McLachlin, who had been tied for first, shot a two-over par 74
to drop into a tie for ninth. He missed earning an individual berth
to the championships by just one stroke.

Johnson and Semelsberger also fired 74s and Wagner came in with
a three-over par 75.

The team’s 16th place finish was not enough to earn them
the nationals berth they had hoped for.

“It hurt a lot,” McLachlin said. “A lot of
practice and a lot of time was put in, and to only miss it by a few
shots ““ it makes you wonder why you did all that
practicing.”

“We were close,” he added. “I think we still
had a chance coming down to the last three or four holes. We just
had a tough time closing it out.”

Sherfy agreed.

“Under par on the back nine would have definitely got us
there,” he said. “We just couldn’t put it
together.”

DiTullio, a senior, now moves on to nationals, where he will
play his final collegiate golf event.

Semelsberger, another senior, did not play well in his final
tournament, but it was his contributions that propelled the team to
back-to-back sixth and fifth place finishes in early spring.

McLachlin played very well and fell just one stroke shy of
traveling to Alabama for the nationals. The sophomore will likely
be the team’s number one player for the next two years and
will look to fill the leadership role that DiTullio filled at
UCLA.

As for the rest of Sherfy’s squad, Johnson, the freshman,
stepped up his game when the team needed it most. Continued growth
should earn him the team’s number two spot next year.

The other spots could be filled by any of the team’s five
current juniors, freshman J.T. Kohut, or any newcomers. Whoever the
regulars will be, the team hopes to shoot consistently lower scores
and qualify for the NCAAs.

A preseason top-25 ranking next year is almost a sure thing for
UCLA. By season’s end, though, the Bruins would rather their
ranking be much higher.