Men's golf pulls up lame in final round of WCC Tourney

By Jack Ferdon

The men's golf team played Mickelson to Pepperdine's Woods on the final day of the WCC Championship Tournament. But being the perpetually losing lefty isn't so bad. After all, he might win a meaningful tournament someday. And the same goes for the young and talented Broncos.

After going low with five-man scores of 286 and 289 in the first two rounds, both played on Monday, Santa Clara found itself in the tournament's final pairing with the defending champion Waves - whom the Broncos trailed by only three strokes - for Tuesday's third and final round. But playing with their rivals from Malibu, no Santa Clara golfer was able to make the par 72 at Riverbend Golf Course and four of the five Broncos posted their worst rounds of the tournament.

"We played really well on Monday. It was one of our better rounds of the year," said redshirt junior Justin Ahasic, who shot 75-73-73 during the tournament to tie for 13th place in the individual standings. "But it fell apart [on Tuesday]. Everyone got off to a bad start and we couldn't rebound."

The collapse was disappointing for a very young team - the Broncos played two freshmen (Blake Lugar and Michael Nicoletti) and no seniors in the tournament - that appeared to have finally gelled during its stellar performance Monday. Through 36 holes, Nicoletti paced Santa Clara with a pair of 2-under-par 70s, which were good enough for the second best individual score. His teammates were all within at least eight strokes of him and the team was poised to go after Pepperdine for the league title.

But the Waves, who struggled on Monday, ran away with the title in the final round behind Michael Putman's 66, while Santa Clara's golfers, to a man, scrambled to break 80.

"We're a young team and as a young team we tend to have trouble in final rounds," said Ahasic.

Nicoletti added, "[The performance on Tuesday] was a combination of a lot of things. It just didn't go our way today. Eventually, it will."

Eventualities abound for a Santa Clara squad so young and so talented Lil' Bow Wow would fit right in on it. The freshmen offered a glimpse this season of the success that might become commonplace to the Broncos over the next three years.

Lugar placed second at the Sacramento St. Invitational last month with an even-par score of 216 for the 54-hole tournament. He missed first place by one stroke.

Nicoletti's best performance of the year before the WCCs had been a three round score of +5 at the University of Hawaii Invitational. But his best rounds of the year were the two 70s he shot on Monday at Riverbend, his home course.

"I grew up on the course," he said. "It's one of my favorites because you can really attack it. And I knew where to go at it."

Added Ahasic, who has senior standing - he missed last season due to shoulder surgery - and has assumed a position of leadership on the team, "Our freshmen can play with anyone in the country. I try to tell them what I've learned and teach them from the mistakes I've made. It's a big jump from high school golf to college. There's an accelerated learning curve. The courses we play are laid out a lot harder."

Ahasic's showing at the conference championship was a slight disappointment for a golfer who finished second in the SCU Invitational back in October and who recently tied for 10th with a +4 at nearby Pasatiempo in the prestigious Western Intercollegiate, a tournament whose past winners include Tiger Woods, amongst others.

But with Ahasic, Lugar and Nicoletti returning next year, along with sophomore Matt Klenz, who tied for 10th on Tuesday, and junior Chris Demartini, the Broncos look pretty solid for next season.