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Men’s golf drives in its highest finish this year, taking 5th in Las Vegas

Coach Derek Freeman (left) and UCLA men’s golf tied for fifth at the Southern Highlands Collegiate in Las Vegas. Freshman Tony Hendricks (right) was the lowest finisher for the Bruins, placing tied for 80th. (Courtesy of Don Liebig/UCLA Athletics)

By Ellie Nowakowski

March 4, 2020 2:02 a.m.

The Bruins’ logged their best finish so far this spring, despite no movement on the leaderboard after round two.

No. 21 UCLA men’s golf tied for fifth place after three rounds across three days at the Southern Highlands Collegiate in Las Vegas. The Bruins finished nine over par and tied with No. 1 Pepperdine, a team that has placed above UCLA in both of the team tournaments this spring.

The Bruins were in third place after one day of play, but dropped into fifth on the second day and were never able to climb back up the leaderboard.

Though coach Derek Freeman said earlier in the week he was concerned with the team’s ability to stay consistent across three rounds of golf, as compared to one or two, the team actually fared the best in its final round of play Tuesday, shooting a 1-under 287.

“This is one of the more difficult golf courses, (and) we played in pretty tough conditions, so I think we’re all trending in the right direction going into postseason,” said junior Devon Bling.

Bling shot 4-under 68 in his third round, with birdies on No. 5-7 and 13, and an eagle on No. 16. He finished with a team-best 7-under 209 after three days to place third overall.

“It’s always nice to be contending in a tournament, especially in one of the better fields we play in,” Bling said. “I know that my game is pretty solid, even though I honestly didn’t really have my best stuff out there this week.”

After the first day of play, UCLA was in striking distance of the lead, sitting five strokes over par and six strokes behind the leader USC. Bling was in third, and senior Hidetoshi Yoshihara was tied for fourth.

Monday’s round saw UCLA fall to fifth place after just one Bruin – sophomore Bryan Wiyang Teoh – finished below par, going from being tied for 40th to tied for 27th. Yoshihara shot even, and the rest of the team was over par, leading to a 5-over 293 team score – a repeat performance from the day prior.

Yoshihara said there were difficult conditions because of the wind on the first two days of play.

“This was my third time playing the same tournament, so I kind of knew the course pretty well and more than anyone else,” Yoshihara said. “It was different conditions this year because it got windy the first two days, but it’s the same course and same strategy, so it was great.”

Yoshihara finished the second round in 10th and ultimately finished the tournament tied for 13th with a 1-under 215.

The Bruins’ score card was rounded out by a tie for 26th place from Teoh, a tie for 67th place from junior Eddy Lai and a tie for 80th place from freshman Tony Hendricks.

The Bruins will play again next week at the Bandon Dunes Championship in Bandon, Oregon.

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Ellie Nowakowski | Sports contributor
Nowakowski is currently a Sports contributor on the men's and women's golf beats.
Nowakowski is currently a Sports contributor on the men's and women's golf beats.
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