Bling Surges into First at Day Two of Southwestern Invitational
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. – Graduate Devon Bling holed three birdies in a span of five holes on the back nine to surge into a tie for first place at 8-under 136 in round two of the Southwestern Invitational at North Ranch Country Club on Tuesday. Bling shot a 5-under 67 on day one and a 3-under 69 on day two, notching his lowest scores of the season in back-to-back rounds.
He is knotted at the top of the leaderboard with Georgia's Trent Phillips.
There's a familiar face atop the leaderboard heading into Day 3 👀
The birdie putt that put Devon Bling at 8-under 📽 ⤵#GoBruins | @GolfChannel pic.twitter.com/CAxSBtC4wW
— UCLA Men's Golf (@uclamensgolf) January 26, 2022
As a team, the Bruins dropped to fifth place at 1-over 577. No. 3 Arizona State owns a six-stroke lead at 18-under 558 over No. 7 Pepperdine in second place.
Bling's 136 is his lowest 36-hole total dating back to Nov. 1-2, 2019, when he shot a pair of 4-under 67's in rounds one and two of the Ka'anapali Classic Collegiate Invitational.
Bling opened the front nine at even par with two bogeys and two birdies, the latter of which coming on the par-5 fourth and par-4 fifth. Bling made his move to the top of the leaderboard with back-to-back birdies on the par-4 11th and par-5 12th. He secured his fifth birdie of the round with a four-foot put on the par-5 15th.
Joining Bling with another bogey-free back nine and under-par score was graduate Eddy Lai who posted a 1-under 71. Lai is tied for 16th at 1-under 143. After going bogey-double bogey-bogey on holes three through five, Lai shot a 5-under the rest of the way, including three birdies on the back nine.
Freshman Evan Chien parred 14 of 18 roles in his second round with one birdie coming on the par-4 16th. Chien is tied for 39th at 5-over 149 (75-74).
Freshman Alvaro Mueller Baumgart Lucena rounded out UCLA's counting scores on day two, shooting a 3-over 75. Muller had two birdies on the par-4 seventh and par-5 12th. He is tied for 47th at 8-over 152 (77-75).
Freshman Pablo Ereño Perez shot a 4-over 76 to bring his two-round total to 6-over 150 (74-76) and tied for 41st.
The Bruins tee off the third and final round of the Southwestern Invitational tomorrow morning beginning at 8:56 a.m. PT with Muller and ending at 9:52 a.m. with Bling. The tournament is available for viewing on the Golf Channel beginning at 1:30 p.m. PT.