UCLA mens golf fizzles in NCAA final after sizzling run of upsets

Some rebuilding year.The UCLA men’s golf team nearly won it all.In what was shaping up as a slice of a season, with the Bruins holding a losing record in the middle of the spring, they found themselves at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad on Wednesday with a chance to hoist the national championship trophy.But having pushed through a four-team playoff in stroke play before pulling off two upsets in match play in the NCAA Championships, a fantastic run met a forgettable finish.The seventh-seeded Bruins found a team they could not conquer in top-seeded Auburn, which lived up to its billing by winning the first three matches to notch its second national title in three years.UCLA coach Armen Kirakossian pinned his team’s fortunes on a rough start in unfamiliar territory.While the Bruins won national championships in 1988 and 2008, they had not advanced to the championship round since the current match play format was adopted in 2009.“We came out nervous and gave up some holes early,” Kirakossian said, “and against a team like that, you just can’t do that and get away with it.”In a battle of two of the nation’s top freshmen, Auburn’s Jake Albert won his first two holes against UCLA counterpart Tyler Loree on the way to a 5-and-3 victory.Jackson Koivin, the world’s top-ranked amateur, clinched Auburn’s second match with a birdie putt on the 15th hole to beat UCLA’s Baylor Larrabee, 4-and-3.“He showed me the level it takes to get your PGA scorecard at 21 years old,” Larrabee said, “so I would say I’ve got some work to do over the offseason, but I’m excited for it.”With UCLA’s Alex Papayoanou and Auburn’s Logan Reilly tied going into the 18th hole, Papayoanou badly mishit his tee shot, allowing Reilly to two-putt for par to clinch the match for the Tigers.UCLA freshman Josh Kim was leading Auburn’s Josiah Gilbert, 3-up, through 14 holes when the match ended.

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