Wednesday, November 11, 1998
Team plays below par during difficult season
MEN’S GOLF: UCLA finishes 12th in last tournament, won one match
all year
By Pauline Vu
Daily Bruin Contributor
The one bright spot of the 11th-ranked men’s golf team’s
performance at the Golf World Invitational was sophomore Jeff
McGraw.
As the rest of the Bruins started poorly and lagged behind,
McGraw shot out to sixth place and held onto it throughout the
tournament for his second-best collegiate finish, a 3-under-par
213. He was just one stroke off second place.
"I had a pretty decent tournament, but I still could’ve done a
little better," McGraw said.
But the Bruins concluded their fall season with their worst
tournament finish last weekend.
"We didn’t play very well. As a whole we have to get much better
as a team," said coach Brad Sherfy.
They came in 12th in a field of 18 teams; however, this was
certainly one of their most challenging tournaments, with 14 ranked
teams, including those ranked first through eighth.
After the first round the Bruins ended up in 15th place. The
second day they improved, shooting 12 stokes less and taking
themselves up to 12th place.
They ended with a score of 290, 26-over-par.
The second highest-placing Bruin, B.J. Schlagenhauf, tied for
44th place at 8-over-par.
This season so far Schlagenhauf has led the team in top 10
finishes with a second-place finish at the Topy Cup, a first-place
finish at the Jerry Pate and a sixth place finish at the Northwest
Classic.
The third Bruin, freshman Parker McLachlin, came in behind
Schlagenhauf at 47th place. McLachlin scored a consistent 75 for
every round.
"Parker’s playing pretty consistently, but he can play much
better than he’s been playing," Sherfy said.
Jason Semelsberger came in fourth for the Bruins; however, his
low-caliber play was extremely uncommon. He shot an 83 in the first
round and came in 85th place.
Semelsberger had trouble in the first round with the 17th
hole.
"The first day they set the holes very difficult. For a college
tournament, their placement was on the difficult side, bordering on
the bizarre. It was very unfair," Sherfy said.
The 17th hole was placed, literally, next to a small cliff.
Putting just one inch off the hole might result in a 40-foot
drop.
"It resembled a miniature golf hole," Sherfy said.
Semelsberger, who has the team’s second-lowest stroke average,
ended up shooting a 10 on the par-4 hole.
He was able to improve admirably in the course of the
tournament, eventually taking 73rd place. He improved his second
round by 11 strokes.
Ross Fulgentis rounded out the team with a 78th place
finish.
The team ends its season with one tournament win  Sherfy
said the team still needs to improve.
"This fall we haven’t played anywhere near potential. We have
one or two guys out of five guys playing well, but we really need
four or five," he said.
Defending champions UNLV took the tournament title.
Comments, feedback, problems?
© 1998 ASUCLA Communications Board[Home]