Lai, Bling Finish Top 15 to lead UCLA at Southwestern Invitational

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. – The UCLA men's golf team finished the Southwestern Invitational at North Ranch Country Club in seventh place at 12-over 876 on Wednesday. Graduate Eddy Lai, who shot up seven spots on the leaderboard with a 2-under 70 in the final round, was the Bruins' tip finisher at T-8th.
 
Graduate Devon Bling entered day three tied for first at 8-under 136 but fell to T-13th after posting a 7-over 79 in his final round (67-69-79).
 
No. 3 Arizona State was the tournament champion at 30-under 834 and the Sun Devils' David Puig was the individual champion at 7-under 208.
 
The UCLA lineup struggled on holes eight and nine in round three, recording a collective 14-over on the two holes with one bogey, five double bogeys and a triple bogey.
 
Lai, who shot an even-par 72 and a 1-under 71 in the first two rounds, holed five birdies in round three on the par-5 sixth, par-4 10th, par-5 12th, par-5 15th and par-4 16th. Bling birdied twice on the par-5 fourth and par-4 18th in his third round.
 
Freshman Alvaro Mueller Baumgart Lucena played his best round of the tournament shooting an even-par 72 featuring five birdies. Muller completed the tournament T-37th at 8-over 224 (73-75-76).
 
Freshman Pablo Ereño Perez rounded out UCLA's counting scores on day three with a 6-over 78 to finish the tournament in 45th at 12-over 228 (74-76-78).
 
The Bruins return to action next week at the Amer Ari Invitational at Waikoloa Beach Resort in Kona, Hawai'i, beginning Thursday, Feb. 3 and ending Saturday, Feb. 5.