Men’s golf finishes in ninth at North Ranch Country Club
By Daily Bruin Staff
March 3, 2010 9:09 a.m.
What a difference a week makes.
The No. 8 UCLA men’s golf team found themselves in a familiar position after two rounds at the USC invitational at North Ranch Country Club: tied for fourth with a chance to make a run on the final day. Last week at the Battle at the Beach, the Bruins went seven-under-par to take home the trophy. This time, however, they fired a seven-over-par 291, finishing the invitation in ninth place.
Sophomore Gregor Main was the Bruins’ top finisher, tying for fifth place overall with a 209 (-4). Fellow sophomore Alex Kim finished ten shots behind his teammate at 219 (-3), tied for eighth. Freshman Pontus Widegren tied for 33rd, hitting three-over-par, while freshman Pedro Figueiredo tied for 53rd with a nine-over-par.
Oregon ran away with the team title with a score of 831 (-21). Cal was the next closest team, sixteen shots behind the Ducks at 847 (-15). The Ducks’ Eugene Wong snatched the lead away from USC’s T.J. Vogel in Tuesday’s final round, finishing at 10-under-par.
The Bruins’ final round collapse saw multiple bogeys, while only one player, Widegren, shot under par.
“We knew we had to play well today and there were a lot of teams that were pretty close (on the leaderboard),” Figueiredo said. “We just had some bad mistakes at the end which cost us a few places and we have to learn from that and not give it away at the end.”
One of the concerns for the Bruins coming into the tournament was whether or not they could keep their energy level up during the first day that featured 36 holes, as opposed to the traditional 18. Main mentioned that energy was an issue, but he was more concerned with being able to see his ball.
“I got kind of tired at the end because it is just a long day out there,” Main said. “We had to try to play fast to get in before it got dark and I just started rushing and didn’t finish well.”
He stressed the importance of finishing rounds strong, something that the Bruins weren’t able to do this time around.
“I don’t think we finished our rounds off that well as a team. We made bogeys coming down the stretch and our putting wasn’t as good this week,” Main said.
The Bruins weren’t about to place the blame on the course or the conditions and reiterated that they only had themselves to blame.
“The weather was great for golf and there was not much wind,” Figueiredo said.
Main echoed his teammate’s sentiments.
“The course really wasn’t that tough. There were a lot of birdies to be had out there and we just didn’t have it this week,” said a frustrated Main.
The Bruins head to Las Vegas next weekend for the Southern Highlands Collegiate, hosted by UNLV.
