Men’s golf prepares to tee off in road tournament for Wolf Pack Classic
Graduate student Devon Bling and UCLA men’s golf are headed to their second tournament in the Wolf Pack Classic held in Reno, Nevada. (Jeremy Chen/Daily Bruin staff)
By Austin Tran
Oct. 11, 2021 2:33 p.m.
The Bruins will play in the West for the first time all season.
UCLA men’s golf will be back on the road, heading to Reno, Nevada, for the Wolf Pack Classic on Monday and Tuesday.
In the Bruins’ last tournament – the Blessings Collegiate Invitational – they finished second to last. After finding themselves in second place during the second round, they fell down the leaderboard.
“There was a moment where we were in second place in the tournament – we were playing really well, … we hit the ball really well, and then we just got out of rhythm,” said coach Derek Freeman. “Because we got out of rhythm, we didn’t do a very good job of managing our misses, and so we got exposed on where we hit the ball in the places that you just can’t hit them.”
However, Freeman said he still felt good about how the team played in Arkansas despite the result.
“The good part about it is we know there’s a lot of work to do,” Freeman said. “We saw a lot of really good things from some of the players, and we know we’ve got a lot to go.”
During the short turnaround between the Blessings Collegiate Invitational and the Wolf Pack Classic, Freeman said the team was focused on dialing up player-specific skills to solidify the lineup.
Graduate student Devon Bling said the team dedicated time toward self-care and recharging for the upcoming tournament.
“I think (the) number one (priority) is getting the right amount of rest,” Bling said. “We had a long four days and with another day of travel later today, so just getting an adequate amount of rest and getting the work in that we needed to improve on from this week so we’re ready for next.”
Alvara Mueller-Baumgart Lucena added that he used this layoff to improve certain parts of his game. Following a 7-over-223 performance in his first collegiate tournament, the redshirt sophomore said he needed to become more comfortable with shot shaping and putting before this week.
“I wasn’t really comfortable with my swing at the start of the week, so I was relying heavily on fading the ball, moving it from left to right,” Mueller-Baumgart Lucena said. “As the week went on, I started to feel more comfortable, but I still need to work on shaping the ball both ways.”
The Bruins will be carrying the same lineup from Arkansas with two exceptions. Alongside Bling, Mueller-Baumgart Lucena, graduate student Eddy Lai and senior Bryan Teoh will be returning this week to Reno. Freshman Omar Morales and senior Sean Maruyama will also be joining the team.
Morales will be making his career debut as a Bruin, while Monday will mark Maruyama’s first start in almost two years. The senior did not play the 2020-2021 season.
Bling said last week did not come without some meaningful lessons learned.
“This was a hard golf course, and it required extreme focus, and if you let your focus off for half a second, you could make a really big number,” Bling said. “It was just learning how to stay focused and present on each shot, and that was the most important thing for me at least.”
The Bruins will tee off Monday starting at 9 a.m.
