University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
Men's Golf Prepares for Pac-12 Championship
April 26, 2012
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The second-ranked UCLA men's golf team prepares for the inaugural Pac-12 Championship this weekend at Trysting Tree Golf Club in Corvallis, OR. Oregon State will host the conference championship, which begins Friday and finishes on Sunday, Apr. 29.
The conference tournament began 53 years ago as the Pacific-8 Championship. The Bruins will be seeking their sixth league title and first since 2006.
Under the guidance of fifth-year head coach Derek Freeman, the Bruins enter the Pac-12 Championship as the league's highest-ranked team. In the most recent coaches poll, four Pac-12 teams are ranked among the nation's Top 10: UCLA (4th), Cal (5th), USC (7th) and Stanford (9th). Oregon and Washington are ranked 12th and 13th, respectively.
UCLA is ranked second nationally by GolfStat and third by GolfWeek.
The Pac-12 Championship is a six-player, count-five format over 72 holes. Thirty-six holes will be played on Fri., Apr. 27 with the remaining 36 holes played on Apr. 28-29. Trysting Tree GC will play to a par of 72 over 7,030 yards.
UCLA's lineup for the conference championship will consist of senior Alex Shi Yup Kim, juniors Pedro Figueiredo and Pontus Widegren, sophomores Anton Arboleda and Patrick Cantlay and freshman Jay Hwang.
Kim, a two-time all-conference honoree, finished third in the Pac-10 Championship last season. This year, his scoring average is 72.0 with a pair of Top 10 results and a T11 at the Bruins' last event, the Western Intercollegiate. He was ranked 40th by GolfWeek and 72nd by GolfStat earlier this week.
Figueiredo, ranked 32/39, won his first career collegiate tournament in October at the Firestone Grill Invitational. In two previous conference championship tournaments, he has finished T22 (2011) and 50th (2010). This season he's averaging 71.8 with four Top 10 results.
Named this week to the Palmer Cup European Team, Widegren is averaging 72.2 with four Top 10 finishes and nine rounds under par. At the previous two league championships, he tied for 11th last season and tied for 20th in 2010.
Arboleda will be playing in his first conference championship tournament after averaging 72.6 in 24 rounds this season. He has recorded three Top 10 results, including two since February.
Cantlay, the world's No. 1 ranked amateur player, recorded a T2 at the Western Intercollegiate on Apr. 15 after capturing low amateur honors at the Masters on Apr. 8. He leads the team with a 71.2 scoring average and is ranked 10th nationally entering this weekend's competition. In 2011, Cantlay was named the conference's Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year.
Finally, Hwang will be playing in his first conference championship. Averaging 73.0 in 21 rounds, he recorded a pair of runner-up results at the Snowman Getaway and the U.S. Intercollegiate.
For tee times and complete resultsClick here..