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Thursday, 5/29/97 Inexperience, youth to blame for Bruins' poor performance M. GOLF: UCLA can still seize the day entering second round of NCAA championships

By Chris Umpierre Daily Bruin Contributor The UCLA men's golf team demonstrated its youth and inexperience in the first round of the NCAA Championships at the Conway Farms Golf Club in Lake Forest, Ill. The Bruins shot a 303 in Wednesday's first round to place them in 29th place out in a 30- team field. The performance places the team in danger of not qualifying past the second round of play. If the Bruins do not come up with a better performance in tomorrow's second round, the squad will be quickly ousted from the championships, as only the top 15 teams continue beyond the second round. The dismal first-round performance can be blamed on nothing other than the team's youth and inexperience. Head coach Brad Sherfy started a young team in the championships, possibly the youngest in the field, with no experience in championship play. The five-player team consists of two true freshmen (Jason Semelsberger and Steve Wagner), two sophomores (Brandon DiTullio and B.J. Schlagenhauf) and one junior (Ben Bost). But they yet have to carry the pressure of representing UCLA in the championships for the first time in four years. The 1993 squad was the last Bruin team to qualify for championship play (they finished in 17th place). But one also has to consider how the other teams performed, and those teams were not sharp in the first round either. The weather was the x-factor in the first round. It kept scores high for all teams, not just UCLA. The Northwestern Wildcats, the host team, and the North Carolina Tarheels were the only teams to shoot under par. The UNLV Running Rebels, the No. 1 team in the country, also had a bad first round as they currently sit in 24th place. But despite UCLA's 29th place first-round finish, the Bruins' hopes for moving on in the championships are not completely smashed. UCLA is just 11 shots off the pace of the 14th place team (Florida), which is a small deficit to overcome in college golf. Also playing in the Bruins' favor is the fact that the team has flourished under pressure during tournaments in the season, despite their youth and inexperience. Case in point, the Stanford Invitational on April 26. While sitting on the bubble for the West Regionals, the Bruins needed a top finish to qualify the team for the regional as they headed up the way to Palo Alto. The Bruins came up with a third place finish, their highest finish of the year, to bounce UCLA off the bubble and into the Regionals. UCLA will be hoping for another such clutch performance in tomorrow's second round. Previous Daily Bruin Stories: Shooting for victory in Hawaii