UCLA men’s golf sees return of upperclassman starter for Thunderbird Collegiate

In a freshmen-dominated spring stretch for the Bruins, an upperclassman will be making his season debut.

Coming off a two-week hiatus from competition, UCLA men’s golf will be teeing it up at the Thunderbird Collegiate in Phoenix, Arizona, from Friday to Saturday. After an 18th-place finish at The Goodwin on March 26, the Bruins will be returning the same lineup this weekend with the exception of one starter: junior Mason Greene.

In addition to Greene, graduate student Eddy Lai and freshmen Evan Chien, Omar Morales and Pablo Ereño Perez will compete over the weekend. Greene will take the place of redshirt sophomore Alvaro Mueller-Baumgart Lucena, who has competed in every tournament for UCLA in 2022.

Greene’s season debut comes after he was sidelined for four and a half months because of extreme irritation in the tendons of his left wrist. The junior was unable to play for all of fall and the beginning of spring before qualifying into the lineup this week.

“I had something called De Quervain’s syndrome,” Greene said. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t anything I could have had surgery on. It was just rest, and it took a little longer than expected because I tried to play on it while I was injured.”

Greene, who will be one of two upperclassmen starters in Phoenix, said he had to do a lot of physical therapy on top of his rest but added that he is prepared for the Thunderbird Collegiate.

On the underclassmen side, Ereño Perez will have the chance to add another top-15 finish to the stat sheet. At The Goodwin, the freshman recorded his best finish of the season – with a tie for 14th place in a field of 147 players. Finding himself two shots off tying the lead entering the final day, Ereño Perez said being in contention for a first-place finish helped develop his game and mentality for subsequent tournaments.

“I learned about my game because that day I started a little bit nervous,” Ereño Perez said. “When I’m in contention, it’s hard to hit the driver with confidence, so I learned about that, and I think I could manage that better in the future. You get experience the more times you are in contention.”

While UCLA finished in last place at the Thunderbird Collegiate last season, most of the 2022 lineup consists of new faces who lack experience playing at the Papago Golf Course. Only Lai has played the course as a Bruin, finishing in a tie for 80th out of 96 players in his last go-around in 2021.

Despite his team’s inexperience on the course, Ereño Perez said he believes UCLA has a good strategy going into the first round Friday.

“The golf course is wide, and the important part is going to be the irons and putting mostly because the greens are fast and slope-y,” Ereño Perez said. “If you can hit some shots with the iron, place it in the correct spots in the green and make those putts, you’re going to be able to play good on this golf course.”

The Thunderbird Collegiate will mark the third time in the last four tournaments in which UCLA fields a freshman-majority lineup. With many of the team’s injuries happening among its upperclassman, the freshman class has been the most represented during the spring season.

Greene said he gets to see his young teammates’ hard work and intensity first hand.

“It’s been awesome – they’re so talented,” Greene said. “Even being around them in practice and seeing the passion that they have for the game has been honestly pretty inspiring to want to be back and playing with some of these guys.”

The Bruins will tee off at 8:24 a.m. on Friday.