Golfer dominates at Prestige, UCLA takes third

Four years is a long time to wait, but after the last three days, senior Pedro Figueiredo left no doubt that he can be a top finisher.

At The Prestige tournament, the Portuguese native blew away the competition with a score of 205 (-8), five shots ahead of USC’s Anthony Paolucci and Oklahoma State’s Jordan Niebrugge.

However, Figueiredo’s dominant performance was not enough to propel the No. 2 UCLA men’s golf team to its third consecutive tournament victory.

“It’s really hard to win a tournament as an individual. And when you do, you feel great, you feel accomplished. It’s different. I’ve won a lot as a team at UCLA, but not as an individual. In some ways, it’s more special,” Figueiredo said.

On Tuesday, conditions were far from ideal, as the Bruins were forced to cope with extreme winds.

But Figueiredo was right in his element.

“The wind suits my game. I hit the ball pretty well, so when the wind is blowing, it doesn’t affect my shot much. I grew up in Europe where the wind blows quite often, so I’m used to it,” Figueiredo said.

As a team, the Bruins handled the conditions well, finishing Tuesday with the lead.

But then Wednesday came, the winds calmed, and UCLA was unable to maintain momentum, finishing in third place behind USC and Washington.

“We played really solidly (on Tuesday) through the bad part of the wind. … We did a poor job of taking advantage of very little wind,” said coach Derek Freeman.

The Bruins have two weeks until their next tournament opportunity, as they prepare to travel to Las Vegas to compete in the Southern Highlands Collegiate Masters.

“We have to prepare and control our emotions better. We have to do a better job of self-evaluating during our rounds,” Freeman said. “We just didn’t prepare the right way, and it kind of set the stage for the rest of the tournament.”

Compiled by Joseph Wilhelm, Bruin Sports contributor.