Men’s golf secures 7th place in The Prestige tournament
Junior Eddy Lai placed 10th overall for UCLA men’s golf at The Prestige presented by Charles Schwab on Wednesday. Lai shot 2-under 69s in his first round but followed them up with a 71 in the final round, which caused him to fall eight spots. (Courtesy of UCLA Athletics)
By Jacqueline Dzwonczyk
Feb. 19, 2020 11:36 p.m.
The Bruins were seventh-best once again.
UCLA men’s golf scored a 3-under 849 to place seventh out of a 16-team field in The Prestige presented by Charles Schwab, which ran Monday through Wednesday in La Quinta, California. In their spring opener in January, the Bruins also came in seventh at the Southwestern Invitational – the team’s worst performance at the tournament in program history.
This week, UCLA finished tied for fourth after day one and tied for third after day two, but dropped four spots after shooting a 1-over 285 in the final round to finish 17 strokes off the leader, No. 1 Texas.
The Longhorns were one of five ranked opponents to defeat the Bruins on Wednesday. Other top-25 teams included No. 4 Oklahoma State, No. 10 Pepperdine, No. 18 Texas Tech and No. 24 SMU.
UCLA finished above both No. 9 Stanford and No. 15 LSU – two teams that outperformed the Bruins at the Southwestern Invitational.
Junior Eddy Lai was the Bruins’ best scorer, finishing tied for 10th with a 4-under 209.
He shot 2-under 69s on both days one and two but closed out the tournament with a 71 to drop him eight spots in the rankings. This finish came about three weeks after Lai tied for 44th overall at the Southwestern Invitational.
Rounding out UCLA’s scorecard were junior Devon Bling tied in 21st place, sophomore Bryan Wiyang Teoh tied in 34th place, senior Hidetoshi Yoshihara tied in 45th place and freshman Tony Hendricks tied in 67th place.
Bling’s placement came after he was the Bruins’ best scorer at the Southwestern Invitational, where he tied for 18th. This week, he was the most consistent player on UCLA’s roster, as he shot a 71 in round one, a 71 in round two and a 70 in round three.
Despite being the Bruins’ worst finisher, Hendricks was the only player to improve his performance each day, scoring a 78 on day one, a 75 on day two and a 71 on day three.
UCLA will next compete as a team March 1-3 in the Southern Highlands Collegiate in Las Vegas.
