UCLA Sports Information Freshman John
Merrick competed in a tournament this weekend, where the
men’s golf team came in sixth place. Georgia Tech
870
Clemson 871
Georgia 874
Florida 883
E. Tenn State 884
UCLA 891
By Pauline Vu
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Out of an elite field of 15 teams, the unranked UCLA men’s
golf team took sixth, placing behind four ranked teams while
beating six others at last weekend’s Carpet Capital Classic
in Georgia.
The Bruins posted a three-round total of 891 at the tournament.
Host No. 6 Georgia Tech took the tournament with a score of 870,
No. 2 Clemson was second, just one stroke behind, and top-ranked
Georgia placed third at 874.
“It was just a really good experience,” said junior
Parker McLachlin. “In the second round we got to play with
the number one and number two teams in the country, and we realized
that their games aren’t that different from the games
we’re playing.”
True freshman John Merrick was a little more enthusiastic. Asked
if he considered the team’s finish a good one, he answered
with a definitive yes.
“It was a really solid finish for us. We beat some top 20
teams in the nation,” he said.
The freshmen paved the way for the Bruins. Merrick finished tied
for 18th at 221 and Steve Conway, battling flu-like symptoms, was
UCLA’s second-highest finisher (23rd, 222).
“I was pretty confident about my game,” Merrick
said. “I kept my emotions intact a little better in this
tournament.”
Sophomores Travis Johnson (31st, 224) and J.T. Kohut (42nd, 227)
and McLachlin (51st, 230) rounded out the scoring.
The team had a stellar first round, placing just three strokes
behind Georgia with a 7-under par team total of 281. After the
second day, in which the team shot 297, the Bruins were still
playing well, only fourth behind the eventual top three
finishers.
But that’s when things took a turn for the worse.
“We played real well the first round,” McLachlin
said, “and then the weather changed.”
The temperature fell to about 40 degrees. The wind picked up. On
the final day, only one team scored under 300.
The Bruins were among those who fared the worst. UCLA and
Tennessee shot 313, the highest score of the final round. So the
Bruins, who had entered the final round in fourth place, came out
of it in sixth place.
Although the field was tough, not all the Bruins were satisfied
with their finish. Unranked, they need to start getting some
tournament wins to get themselves in the polls and earn a spot in
the NCAA regionals later in the season.
“I really don’t know how the rankings work,”
McLachlin said. “I think we’ve got to do something a
little bit better than getting sixth place.”
But Merrick was pleased with the additional experience gained by
the team.
“By the way we played, we know what it takes to compete at
the top level,” he said. “(This tournament) gave me
more confidence too, because I didn’t really see the other
players to be that much better than us.”
Youth and inexperience was no longer the problem, as it had been
in the past. This time it was weather, sickness (in addition to
Conway’s cold, both Johnson and McLachlin have back problems)
and fatigue.
The Carpet Capital was UCLA’s fourth tournament in five
weeks.
“It’s pretty grueling,” McLachlin said of the
schedule “We’re all just really exhausted and
drained.
“The first round we all concentrated. By the second and
third, we mentally warmed down a little.”
Earlier in the year, head coach Brad Sherfy also mentioned that
the schedule was a tough one.
“It’s a real bang-bang schedule, a baptism by
fire,” he’d said.
The team now has a break, however, with their next tournament
four weeks away.