By Dylan Hernandez
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
They failed, but at least they’re taking it like men.
No excuses, only a promise that they’ll be back.
Facing competition that they deemed substandard at the Pacific
Invitational in Stockton, Calif., over the last two days,
UCLA’s men golfers stumbled and finished ninth in a 15-team
field. Fresno State captured the team title with a three-round
total of 869, 16 strokes better than the Bruins’ 885.
Failure is failure, whatever the reasons. Forget that The
Reserve course at Spanos Park was harder than what the team is
accustomed to or that it was windy during Wednesday’s final
round.
“Excuses are excuses,” said sophomore John Merrick,
who carded a 7-over par 223 to finish 29th. “We didn’t
play well.
“We were coming in looking at the strength of a field that
wasn’t that hard. We were looking to finish high, but we
finished in the middle. It’s kind of
disappointing.”
Two weeks ago, the Bruins tied for last among 15 teams at the
Carpet Capital Invitational in Georgia, but there, the field was
littered with ranked teams.
In Stockton, the big dogs were absent. In their place were teams
like San Francisco, St. Mary’s and UC Santa Barbara ““
hardly titans of collegiate golf.
Nonetheless, only one UCLA player ““ senior Parker
McLachlin ““ placed in the top 20. McLachlin tied for 10th
(2-over 218) by shooting rounds of 74 and 71 on the par-72 course
Monday, and 73 on Tuesday.
Sophomore Roy Moon was a pleasant surprise, coming in as the
Bruins’ No. 2 at 6-over 222 (27th). Merrick rounded up the
scoring three.
Sophomore Steve Conway, UCLA’s top player at the Carpet
Capital, was 45th (11-over 227) and sophomore Doug Batty was 65th
(19-over 235).
“We’re not too happy,” Conway said. “We
beat a couple of teams, but overall, it was not a success. But we
just have to take it positively from here.”
“We’ll start playing better,” Merrick added.
“I know we’ll come around.”
Nevada (872) and UC Irvine (875) were second and third,
respectively.
Host Pacific’s Troy McKinley took the individual crown
with a 5-under 211.