UCLA Sports Information Sophomore J.T.
Kohut rounds out the five-man squad at the NCAA
Championships in Durham, N.C. this week.
By Pauline Vu
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
From the very first tournament, the members of the men’s
golf team knew it was going to be a different year.
In the fall, the team headed out to Oregon with a contingent
consisting of Head Coach Brad Sherfy, returning sophomores Travis
Johnson and J.T. Kohut, and three true freshmen, John Merrick,
Steve Conway and Roy Moon.
Even though it was fairly late when they got off the plane, the
three freshmen wanted to head to the golf course right away and
squeeze in a couple of hours of practice.
Whoa … say what?
“Typically we fly in, get there in the evening and
don’t even consider practicing,” Johnson said. But the
team headed to the course anyway.
“I remember the sun going down and thinking, “˜This
is gonna be a good year,'” Johnson said.
The team has done a 180 compared to what it was last year. Last
year’s team didn’t show up for weight training and
often skipped practice. Last year’s team spoke negatively
about each other. Last year’s team failed to make the NCAA
Championships despite having all the talent in the world.
“We had so much talent last year, there’s no reason
why we shouldn’t have made nationals,” Johnson said.
“Guys just didn’t put in the time. It’s one thing
having talent, it’s one thing doing something with your
talent.”
Something had to be done.
So after last season ended, Sherfy took three players who
would’ve been seniors this year off the team.
 UCLA Sports Information Junior co-captain Parker
McLachlin leads the team in his first-ever NCAA
Championship. This year’s team has worked hard to earn their shot
at the championships. “They weren’t performing well on
the course, they weren’t performing well in school and
weren’t doing much good for the team,” Johnson said.
“I think Brad made a very tough decision, but the right
decision, and I fully support him the whole way through.”
It wasn’t just the failure to make nationals that inspired
that move. Last year’s team also had to deal with a lot of
personal turmoil.
“Someone was always saying something behind someone
else’s back,” junior Parker McLachlin said. “Guys
who weren’t traveling were always like, “˜Why is he
traveling? I should be traveling.'”
McLachlin, clearly frustrated, continued, “It was like,
“˜Well, quit skipping practice. Quit skipping the weight
room.'”
Johnson was one of two freshman last year and remembered being
unhappy with the way things stood.
“I hated last year. I was the only golfer on campus and I
made most of the trips last year and the guys weren’t really
used to having a newcomer come in and break the lineup,” he
recalled. “They were used to their five buddy-buddies making
the lineup, so I got a lot of grief because I was taking one of
their spots.”
But from the very beginning of this season, things have been
different. For one, the team actually works hard in the weight
room.
This was a big issue last year, when out of 11 golfers maybe
only four would show up for weights.
“It was like a joke,” McLachlin said.
It was so funny that all the other weight coaches would make fun
of Stephane Rochet, the team’s weight coach last year,
because he had to work with the men’s golf team.
Rochet left UCLA earlier this year, but not before telling the
golf team this, according to McLachlin: “Last year all the
other weight coaches gave me (crap) about you guys, but this year
you guys have earned their respect and earned my
respect.”
This year, golfers not only go to practice, they enjoy it and
even go above and beyond by practicing for hours on their own.
Sherfy chose not to comment on last year’s situation, but
did offer his view about this year’s team. “I will say
that this is the hardest working team that I’ve had.
It’s got the best attitude of any team that I’ve
had.”
That’s one of the biggest changes, the fact that players
support their coach and each other and have a camaraderie that was
missing last year.
“You get rid of some bad seeds and put in some good
seeds,” McLachlin said, then corrected himself. “Not
even good seeds. Just guys who are willing to work and freshmen who
are enthusiastic about playing. It’s like an entirely
different feel on our team.”
And maybe that’s what resulted in the biggest change of
all: last year’s team didn’t made the cut to the NCAA
Championships. This year’s did.