NICOLE MILLER/Daily Bruin Although freshmen
Johnny Merrick and Steve Conway
have different styles, they are good friends and successful
golfers.
By Pauline Vu
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
According to their teammates, men’s golf freshmen Steve
Conway and Johnny Merrick are about as different as two guys can
be.
Merrick’s the offbeat one; Conway’s the
straight-laced one.
Sophomore golfer Travis Johnson recalled an incident he thought
described Merrick to a tee.
Johnson and Merrick, both from Long Beach, have known each other
for years and often scuffle.
As they were leaving the Arizona State golf course two weeks ago
and heading out into the parking lot, Johnson jabbed Merrick in the
shoulder with his forearm.
“He got pissed off and ““ I wasn’t expecting
this ““ grabbed my shirt from the back, pulled it over my
head, and started socking me,” Johnson said.
“Meanwhile, BYU, this very conservative team, were in
their van right in front of us, and they were laughing and freaking
out.”
Conway is the preppy one. All of the golfers say it.
“He’s from the country club, where you play whatever
you want, kinda hit balls, go have a nice lunch and stuff,”
Merrick says as Conway laughs.
“Travis and I, we’d have to do stuff like go steal
balls and pick up baskets to get balls.”
According to Johnson, Conway “doesn’t know what
it’s like to sag your pants and untuck your shirt. He’s
very polite. Politically correct.”
The consensus: “The only similarity is they both have
blond hair,” Johnson said.
Well, that’s not entirely true.
Another thing Merrick and Conway have in common are their golf
games.
Both came to UCLA expecting to have to battle for playing time,
expecting to have to wait out a few years until they could prove
what they were made of; and instead, both found themselves thrown
into the mix at the team’s first tournament, the Northwest
Classic.
There, incidentally, Conway led the team with an 11th place
finish while Merrick came in third on the team, 33rd overall.
They managed this despite their nervousness over their first
competition and despite the higher level of play.
Actually, Conway used the competition to push himself.
“The scores were definitely lower. I came in the first
round and someone shot 63,” he recalled.
“I was like, “˜Whoa, that hasn’t really
happened too much before,’ and I used that as motivation the
next day. Somehow I shot 64. It just seemed more
possible.”
That 64 remains his lowest score in a round.
They may be freshmen, but they’ve been playing as well as
the veterans.
Conway has led the team in three tournaments now, including an
individual fifth and second place finish, and Merrick has led the
team twice.
They have changed a lot this year.
Merrick says that under Head Coach Brad Sherfy’s tutelage,
he has learned to play a smarter and more patient game.
“Coach is big on saying you should always take it each
shot at a time,” Merrick said.
“Never think of what has happened in the past, what is
gonna happen in the future; you should just think of that shot.
Because that is your best chance of playing your best golf.
“When we play 36 holes, if you have a bad front nine or
something, you can’t give up. You have 27 holes
left.”
At the beginning of the year Merrick played at the Inverness
Intercollegiate, where he shot 74 in the first two rounds. In the
final round he had a few tough holes and let-downs, managing a
round of 80 (228 total).
“It wasn’t giving up,” he said of his mental
state. “It’s making it so much harder on yourself,
thinking, “˜I don’t think I can do this,’ instead
of staying positive and knowing you can do it.”
Last weekend at U.S. Intercollegiates, Merrick was challenged in
the same manner. He shot a 74 and 72, in the first two rounds, and
then played a miserable first eight holes in round three, going
5-over par.
“Right there I could’ve given up and shot 80,”
Merrick said. “This tournament I battled back.”
He made three birdies in the rest of the round, and ended it
only 2-over par for a round score of 73 (219 total).
Conway has been solid from the start, from golf to his
girlfriend.
“He has a steady girlfriend, which is good,” Merrick
said. “She keeps him in line.”
His technique is equally dependable.
“A big thing with Steve ““ his swing might not be as
technically perfect as other people’s, but he hits the ball
probably just as good as anybody in college.
“His timing’s down real good. Every shot might not
go as far, but it goes straight, every time.”
Only once has he slipped.
“My worst golf moment was when I didn’t qualify for
the Arizona tournament within the team,” Conway said.
“I just wasn’t playing (well), had no confidence.
I’m glad I overcame that and re-solidified myself on the
team.”
So what happened?
“He went on a cruise!” Merrick yelled.
Conway: “I’m not saying anything.”
“He went on a cruise with his girlfriend and didn’t
pick up a club for, like, two weeks,” Merrick said.
Conway, quickly: “It was one week.”
He added a little ruefully, “I missed one week of golf and
it took me a little while to get (my) confidence back.”
That time period was the worst of Conway’s year.
“It was just hard knowing I wasn’t part of the team
that week,” he said.
But after missing two tournaments he picked right up where he
left off, tying for second place overall at the Cleveland
Classic.
The next closest Bruin, Merrick, came in 35th.
Conway’s game may have stayed the same, but he has changed
in one way.
“John is from the Long Beach crew with Travis, and
they’ve kinda brought me away from the preppy style, I guess
you could say. They’ve been working on it the whole
year,” he said, laughing.
“Hanging out with them I get to do a bunch of stuff I know
I never would’ve done,” he added.
“Travis organized a sky-diving trip. It was the greatest.
Our whole team bonded.”
Steve Conway and John Merrick have gone a long way from when
they first set foot in Westwood, going from guys who didn’t
expect to play to being among the leaders of the team.
But some things don’t change.
The first time Merrick heard of Conway was at a junior
tournament when they were both 12; Merrick, playing in his first
tournament, had a round a 85. He looked at the scoreboard and saw
Conway’s name, next to the score 73.
“I remember thinking, “˜Who is this guy? This
guy’s really good,'” Merrick recalled.
“I looked up to Steve a lot early on in junior
golf.”
That’s what he thought then. And what he thinks now
isn’t too different.
“It’s good to be on a team with a guy who wants to
get better, who really wants to help the team, and I know Conway is
like that. (He’s) really got his head straight,”
Merrick said.
That’s typical Steve Conway.
Last week Merrick and Conway were having their their pictures
taken.
Conway lines up against the wall of the Wooden Center and
smiles.
“So,” the photographer asks, “do you have any
special skills?”
“Yeah,” Merrick calls out. “He’s a porn
star.”
And that’s typical Johnny Merrick.