UCLA
NCAA Regionals
No. 13 Men’s Golf Looks Ahead to NCAA Regionals at Auburn
May 08, 2025 | Men's Golf
LOS ANGELES – The No. 3-seed UCLA men's golf team will compete at the NCAA Auburn Regional at Auburn University Club from May 12-14 in Auburn, Ala.
UCLA will be competing as one of 13 programs at next week's NCAA Auburn Regional. The top five teams, along with the low individual not on an advancing team (six individuals total), will advance to compete in the championships at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif., later this month.
The other 12 participants, along with UCLA, at the NCAA Auburn Regional will include No. 1-seed Auburn, (2) Texas A&M, (4) SMU, (5) Georgia Tech, (6) Oregon, (7) Purdue, (8) Arkansas Little Rock, (9) TCU, (10) Charleston, (11) New Mexico State, (12) Loyola Maryland and (13) USC Upstate. Team seeds are in parenthesis.
This will mark UCLA's second consecutive season in which the Bruins have advanced to the NCAA Regional round. Last year, UCLA competed at the NCAA Stanford Regional and finished in seventh place.
The Bruins' starting five at Auburn will include two seniors (Omar Morales and Pablo Ereño), one junior (Kyle An), one sophomore (Luke Powell) and one freshman (Baylor Larrabee). Bruins' freshman Trevor Garus will serve as the substitute.
"I think the boys are very excited to get back to another regional," UCLA head coach Armen Kirakossian said. "Last year was the first regional tournament that any of the guys on our team had played in, so they got a taste of it. They're excited to go back and get another chance to advance to La Costa in Carlsbad. We are excited and we have eagerness to compete. Nobody on our team has seen the golf course at Auburn, including our coaches, so that will be a first time for all of us. We have traveled East this year a few times, so I think we have learned hopefully a little bit how to adjust to time differences, time zones, the climate, and grasses. That's a nice vote of confidence for us, having experienced that before. I think that we have a little bit of a feel of what we are walking into.
"We will fly out and get a practice round on Sunday and try to learn the golf course as best as we can. Sunday night, we will formulate our gameplan for how we will play the course. The idea is for us to go out and execute on that gameplan, just as we've done at every other tournament. With regionals, you have a lot on the line. Your season continuing is on the line, but it doesn't change how we are planning and the way that we will process and break down the gameplan for the upcoming tournament. We are looking forward to getting on the road, getting back out, and competing with the boys. We will give it our all to hopefully advance to La Costa."
Most recently, Morales won his third collegiate medal at the 2025 Big Ten Championships in Baltimore (April 25-27). The Bruins' senior shot even par (70) on the third and final day of the Big Ten Championships to finish the tournament at 7-under 203. He finished three strokes ahead of Oregon's Greyson Leach (4-under 206).
Morales and Ereño were both unanimous picks as first-team All-Big Ten Conference selections. Ereño became UCLA's first all-conference Men's Golfer of the Year since Kevin Chappell in 2010-11 (in the Pac-10 Conference). In addition, Ereño became the seventh Bruin to earn the individual honor, within the Pac-10 or Pac-12 or now, the Big Ten. He has led the Bruins with a 69.8 scoring average this season, totaling team bests with 10 top-20 finishes and 20 rounds under par. Ereño's scoring average led all competitors this year in the Big Ten, helping him to secure the league's Les Bolstad Award (presented annually within the Big Ten to the golfer with the lowest stroke average of the season).
POSTSEASON FORMAT
Six 54-hole regional tournaments will be conducted next week to determine the 30 qualifying teams and six individuals (not on those qualifying teams) who will compete in the NCAA Championships. Thirteen teams and 10 individuals (not on those teams) will compete at each of three regionals while the other three regionals will have 14 teams and five individuals (not on those teams).
The NCAA Men's Golf Championships will take place at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif., from May 23-28.
COURSE INFORMATION
Auburn University Club in Auburn, Ala. (Auburn University, host)
Par 72, 7,607 yards
Regional Central (via AuburnTigers.com)
1650 Yarbrough Farms Blvd.
Auburn, AL 36830
WEATHER AT AUBURN
Temperatures expected in the mid-to-high 70s, chances of rain in the forecast on Monday and Tuesday.
TOURNAMENT SCORING
Live scoring will be available from Scoreboard, powered by Clippd (live link here).
UCLA'S LINEUP
Omar Morales, Pablo Ereño, Kyle An, Baylor Larrrabee and Luke Powell. Trevor Garus, substitute participant.
UCLA'S HISTORY
This marks UCLA's second consecutive team NCAA Regional appearance. Last season, the Bruins advanced to the NCAA Regional at Stanford University (seventh-place team finish). The last time the Bruins advanced past the regional round and into the NCAA Championship field was in the 2017-18 season.
UCLA has won two NCAA Championships with the last title coming in 2008. UCLA also won the NCAA title in 1988. The Bruins have won five NCAA Regional Championships – 2003, 2004, 2009, 2011 and 2013.
2025 NCAA REGIONAL SITES
Poplar Grove Golf Course (Amherst, Virginia)
Auburn University Club (Auburn, Alabama)
Gold Mountain Golf Club (Bremerton, Washington)
Montreux Golf and County Club (Reno, Nevada)
Seminole Legacy Golf Club (Tallahassee, Florida)
Atkins Golf Club (Urbana, Illinois)
ALL-BIG TEN
In addition to Morales and Ereño securing first-team All-Big Ten honors, junior Kyle An and freshman Baylor Larrabee were recognized as second-team All-Big Ten selections. Larrabee was named the league's Freshman of the Year. In his third year as the Bruins' head coach, Armen Kirakossian was recognized as the Big Ten Coach of the Year. UCLA swept the major individual awards at the conclusion of the season – Men's Golfer of the Year (Pablo Ereño), Freshman of the Year (Baylor Larrabee) and Coach of the Year (Armen Kirakossian).
The full news release of UCLA's All-Big Ten selections is available here.
2025 BIG TEN, ALL-CHAMPIONS TEAM
Jake Birdwell, Illinois
Yang Kuang, Maryland
Emil Riegger, Maryland
Lorenzo Pinili, Michigan State
Greyson Leach, Oregon
Omar Morales, UCLA
NATIONAL RANKINGS
The Bruins were ranked No. 13 in the nation this week by Scoreboard, powered by Clippd. Nine competitors in the NCAA Auburn Regional are currently ranked within the top 50, nationally.
(1) Auburn, tournament host
(12) Texas A&M
(13) UCLA
(24) SMU
(25) Georgia Tech
(36) Oregon
(37) Purdue
(48) Arkansas Little Rock
(50) TCU
(62) Charleston
(63) New Mexico State
(142) Loyola Maryland
(227) USC Upstate
UCLA'S 2024-25 ROSTER
| Name | Year | Height | Hometown |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kyle An | Jr. | 5-9 | Aliso Viejo, Calif. |
| Luciano Conlan | So. | 6-0 | Kaneohe, Hawai'i |
| Pablo Ereño | Sr. | 5-10 | Madrid, Spain |
| Trevor Garus | Fr. | 6-0 | Boise, Idaho |
| Baylor Larrabee | Fr. | 6-5 | Ferndale, Wash. |
| Omar Morales | Sr. | 6-2 | Puebla, Mexico |
| Alex Papayoanou | So. | 5-10 | The Woodlands, Texas |
| Luke Powell | So. | 5-11 | Laguna Niguel, Calif. |
| Matthew Yamin | R-So. | 5-11 | New York, N.Y. |
| Andy Yoon | Sr. | 5-11 | Cypress, Calif. |
Players Mentioned
