UCLA
Southern Highlands Collegiate
UCLA Concludes Busy Stretch at Southern Highlands
March 01, 2019 | Men's Golf
LAS VEGAS - The Bruins, up to 35th in the latest Golfstat rankings as of Feb. 26, wrap up a stretch of three tournaments in three weeks at the Southern Highlands Collegiate. The event runs from Sunday through Tuesday at the par-72, 7,510-yard layout at the Southern Highlands Golf Club.
The starting five for UCLA will feature senior Cole Madey, junior Hidetoshi Yoshihara, sophomores Devon Bling and Eddy Lai and freshman Sean Maruyama. Play will begin at 9 a.m. each day off split tees. The individual champion of the tournament will receive an exemption to the PGA TOUR's Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, which will take place Oct. 3-6 in Las Vegas.
A live stream of the event, courtesy of Golfweek and USA Today Network, will be available on Monday and Tuesday. A link to that, as well as live scoring, is available above.
Joining the Bruins and host (No. 38) UNLV in the 15-team field are No. 4 Georgia Tech, No. 6 USC, No. 7 Auburn, No. 8 Texas, No. 11 Oklahoma, No. 13 Pepperdine, No. 15 California, No. 18 Texas Tech, No. 28 Illinois, No. 30 Florida, No. 37 Stanford, No. 44 TCU and UCF.
During this three-week stretch of tournaments, the Bruins have improved on their previous season-best finishes, first placing fourth at The Prestige (Feb. 18-20, +14, 866) before producing a third-place showing at the Southwestern Invitational (Feb. 25-26, +1, 865). During the fall, UCLA's best finish was a T-4 at the Ka'anapali Classic College Invitational (Nov. 2-4, -27, 825). The Bruins have been under par in nine of 20 rounds.
Maruyama was the top finisher for the Bruins at the Southwestern Invitational, tying for fourth at 3-under 213 thanks to a second-round, 7-under 65. His two best rounds of the season have come during second rounds, which also included a 5-under 66 at the Arizona Intercollegiate (Jan. 28-29), where he closed at 2-under 211.
Bling is coming off a pair of Top 20 showings, tying for 10th at the Southwestern (E, 216) and placing 16th at The Prestige (+3, 216). He has five under-par rounds on the season, shooting a 5-under 66 to close the Ka'anapali Classic.
Madey tied for 15th (+2, 218) at the Southwestern, shooting bookend 1-under 71s in the tournament. His best event was the Arizona Intercollegiate, where he finished at 5-under 208 thanks to a second-round, 6-under 65.
Lai also tied for 15th in the Bruins' last tournament. He is tied for the team lead with seven under-par rounds and is a combined 3-under in his second rounds, finishing seventh at the Bill Cullum Invitational (Oct. 15-16, -4, 212).
Yoshihara has six under-par rounds, including all three rounds at the Arizona Intercollegiate, where he had a season-best finish of T-8 (-8, 205). He tied for 17th at The Prestige.
Players Mentioned
