COURTNEY STEWART Sophomore Travis
Johnson led the Bruins to a tie for fifth place at the
Oregon Duck Invitational.
By Pauline Vu
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
It was a mediocre finish at a mediocre tournament.
The UCLA men’s golf team tied for fifth place out of 15
teams with a three-round score of 884 at the Oregon Duck
Invitational in Eugene on March 26-27.
“It was one of the weakest fields of the year, but still,
fifth place is kind of a confidence booster for us, because we
haven’t had great finishes lately,” sophomore Travis
Johnson said.
The team didn’t perform spectacularly in Oregon; in fact,
Johnson noted, they haven’t played great since the beginning
of the year.
But what they did do last week was beat the teams they most
needed to beat.
There are just three more tournaments until the NCAA Western
Regionals takes place. Out of about 30 teams, only the top 12 from
UCLA’s district, District 8, will make the cut to the
Regionals.
The Bruins figure they’re probably 12th in the district
right now. But close on their heels at 13th and 14th in District 8
are UC Santa Barbara and Oregon State, both of whom were also at
the tournament.
And both of whom came in behind UCLA at the Oregon Duck
Invitational. By the tournament’s end, UCSB trailed UCLA by
just five strokes for seventh place and Oregon was behind UCLA by
19 strokes for 12th place.
“Right now, we’re in crunch time to see who’s
gonna qualify for Western Regional, and right now we’re
sitting on the borderline,” Johnson said. “(The Oregon
Invitational) came down to the wire. We were real close to UCSB
going into the final round, but we held on to beat them by five
shots. That was huge for us.”
According to junior Parker McLachlin, knowing that they had to
beat UCSB and Oregon State pushed the team more than anything
else.
“We just knew coming down the stretch that every shot was
gonna make a difference,” McLachlin said. “It made us
realize, “˜Dang, we can’t mess around anymore,
can’t let these shots get away.'”
Johnson led the team with a 20th place finish, but until the
final round, he was actually tied for third place.
After shooting 73 in the first round and 68 in the second round,
Johnson shot 80 in the final, rainy round.
“The course got the best of me that day,” he said,
“but I was still pleased with a top 20
performance.”
Freshman John Merrick was second for the team, placing 22nd with
a score of 222, and McLachlin tied for 23rd at one stroke behind
Merrick. Sophomore J.T. Kohut tied for 36th place with a 225 and
freshman Steve Conway tied for 54th with a total of 230.
San Diego State won the tournament (871), Washington took second
(872), and Oregon placed third (880).
It may have just been fifth place in a poor field, but the way
the Bruins see it, at least they beat the teams that were the
biggest threats to them.
And besides, the UCLA men are absolutely confident that
they’re going to get better.
“We’re just waiting for a tournament to break out
and do really good at,” Merrick said. “I think our team
has as much talent as any team in the country. We just need to show
it.”