by Brice Nixon
Staff Writer
With an impressive second-place finish in Monday’s Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference 18-Hole Tournament at Sierra La Verne Country Club, the University of La Verne golf team solidified its hold on fourth place.
Although La Verne’s five-player squad had the best score among the eight conference teams, only the top four players are considered for scoring. While ULV’s top four had respectable scores, they were not outstanding.
Junior Steve Lewis and freshman Justin Poore each shot a seven-over-par 78 to lead the Leopards, but it was not enough to top Redlands, whose top scorer, Paul Taube, shot a 75.
Poore birdied the last hole, and it proved crucial as ULV edged the Stags by one shot with a total of 315, earning seven points in the conference standings. Redlands was first with a score of 312.
The Leopards (4-3, 6-4 overall) trail Redlands, which has a conference-leading 20 points, by a total of 15 points.
With a score of 77, Lewis was the only player to shoot under 80 for ULV, as it lost to Cal Lutheran, 311-321, on April 7.
Poore, who provided a highlight for the Leopards with a hole-in-one on the 12th, was the next lowest scorer for La Verne with 80.
The back nine, in which none of La Verne’s players managed to score better than 40, was where ULV really struggled.
“The back nine is much more difficult [than the front nine],” said head coach Rex Huigens. “We played pretty well on the front. We were tied on the turn, and we didn’t play as well on the back.”
Although the Leopards top four players all shot under 40 over the first nine holes, the scores of those same four all jumped to the low- to mid-40s over the last nine.
A prime example of this was La Verne’s junior Jim Brooks. He shot 38 on the front nine, tied for second best overall. He then had a back-nine score of 44, highest among the eight scoring players in the match, to give him an overall score of 82.
ULV’s Steve Lewis followed a similar trend. His overall score of 77 tied him with Cal Lu’s Jeff Karpman for second best in the match. He also shot a match-best 37 on the first nine holes. He then had a total of 40 on last nine, higher than all but one of Cal Lu’s players, but still best among La Verne’s competitors.
