Monday, October 12, 1998
Men’s team wins Northwest, women finish 17th at Bama
TOURNAMENT: Weather delay, sudden-death playoff makes odd
weekend, rounds for golf squads
By Pauline Vu
Daily Bruin Contributor
They weren’t going to share the title.
UCLA, Oregon and Washington may have all tied for first place at
the Northwest Classic with team totals of 856 (tying the tournament
record), but none of them were going to leave their victory at that
 a mere tie.
So the Bruins, Ducks and Huskies stepped out to the 16th hole to
settle the matter with a sudden death playoff.
And when Jeff McGraw sunk a 12-foot birdie putt to help the UCLA
fivesome play the hole 1-under par, 11th-ranked UCLA came out on
top.
Although officially all three teams receive a first place finish
in the eyes of the NCAA, playing to determine the tournament
champion was simply a matter of pride.
‘You don’t go to a tournament to tie,’ said men’s coach Brad
Sherfy.
The Bruins had individual highlights as well. B.J. Schlagenhauf
led the field with an 8-under-par 208, one shot off the tournament
record, to claim the individual title.
Schlagenhauf posted remarkable scores of 69 and 67 in the first
and second round, respectively, and held onto the lead with a
par-72 in the last round, edging out Rob Rashell of Washington by
two strokes.
Rashell, however, had the most spectacular play of the
tournament with a hole-in-one on the 177-yard seventh hole.
Jason Semelsberger put in a strong performance with scores of
70, 68 and 73 to tie for third with a 5-under-par score of 211.
‘The play of Schlagenhauf and Semelsberger was outstanding, and
Parker McLachlin showed good stuff after red-shirting last year,’
Sherfy said.
Jeff McGraw shot only 2-over-par to tie for 26th place, Parker
McLachlin shot 4-over-par to tie for 33rd, and Ross Fulgentis shot
10-over-par to finish 65th.
‘There’s a lot of depth on this team. Our future looks bright,’
Sherfy said.
Interestingly enough, having a sudden-death playoff at all was
up to the Bruins, who had a flight to catch immediately after the
tournament.
‘The team discussed it over and decided they’d rather play now
and catch another flight later,’ Sherfy said.
Obviously, they chose well.
The Bruins participated in the Northwest Classic exactly a year
ago at the same golf course and placed ninth. Schlagenhauf led the
Bruins then as well, placing fourth in the tournament.
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The women’s golf team entered the Bama Fall Preview this week
ranked 23rd nationally and eager to challenge the elite of the
collegiate women’s golf world, when something big rained on their
parade.
Something like the Bama Fall Preview.
The Bruins placed 17th in one of the toughest tournaments in the
country, with 15 out of the 18 teams ranked in the top 25 of the
Mastercard rankings, including top-ranked Duke, Arizona (No. 2) and
Arizona State (No. 3).
Although the first day was rained out, the clouds still didn’t
lift for the Bruins when play began on Tuesday.
That day the Bruins posted a team total of 324, 40-over-par, to
finish in last place. Duke finished the first round in first place
with only 13-over-par.
The Bruins’ low score resulted in a two-and-a-half hour
discussion between Coach Jackie Tobian-Steinmann and the team.
‘The first day showed us where we needed to work,’
Tobian-Steinmann said.
‘We had to regroup and see what we could do the next day.’
Whatever they discussed helped a little. The next day the Bruins
moved up one place to 17th place. However, with a second-round
team-total of 316, they posted the second largest improvement
between the two rounds, shaving eight strokes off the previous
day’s strokes, while teams like Duke took an additional 12 strokes
to complete the round.
Although in the overall tournament UCLA only beat one team, in
the second round alone UCLA beat five teams.
Although the Bruins placed low in the tournament,
Tobian-Steinmann insisted there is a positive side.
‘You can learn from every experience, and when you learn, you
will improve next time,’ she said.
Gaining experience will be key this year for the Bruins. The
team has no seniors, two juniors, and a quartet of returning
sophomores. The Bruins’ best player last year, Amandine Vincent,
was lost to graduation.
However, Amanda Moltke-Leth, an All-American and a transfer from
the University of Memphis, stepped up and led the Bruins with a
35th place finish and a score of 156, 14-over-par.
‘Amanda is new to the team. She’s a definite asset, and a good
player with a great attitude,’ Tobian-Steinmann said.
Alexandra Gassar shot 160 to come in 60th. Laura Moffet shot 161
and tied for 64th place, Leilani Bagby scored 163 for 71st place
and Julie Oh rounded out the fivesome with a score of 167 and 80th
place.
Tobian-Steinmann is not discouraged by the poor showings of the
Bama Fall Preview, nor the fact the once ranked Bruins (No. 23)
were dropped off the rankings.
‘Right now, I don’t think we’re much better,’ she said,
referring to the ranking, ‘but this team has a bunch of good
players. I have high hopes and great expectations for the team by
the end of the year.’
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