UCLA Returns to Thunderbird Collegiate

LOS ANGELES – The UCLA men's golf team will compete at the 15-team Thunderbird Invitational in Phoenix, Ariz., April 15-16 at Papago Golf Club with 36 holes on Friday and the final round on Saturday.
 
The Papago Golf Club is a par 71 with a course yardage of 7,319. Phoenix's forecast calls for highs of 89 and 90 degrees on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
 
The Bruins are joined by five top-10 teams in No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 Oklahoma State, No. 4 Arizona State, No. 5 North Carolina and No. 7 Texas Tech. Also in the field are Baylor, Boise State, New Mexico, Oregon State, San Francisco, SMU, South Florida, UNLV and Utah.
 
UCLA's starting five is composed of graduate Eddy Lai, freshmen Pablo Ereño Perez, Alvaro Mueller and Omar Morales and junior Mason Greene. Freshman Evan Chien will be competing individually.
 
Lai is the only Bruin to have competed in each of UCLA's eight tournaments this season. Lai leads the team with 21 counting rounds and 11-under par rounds. Over UCLA's last two competitions, Lai is averaging a team-best 69.8 strokes per round.
 
Ereño Perez recorded the Bruins' lowest individual round score in UCLA's most recent tournament at The Goodwin with a 5-under 65 (par 72 course). Ereño Perez went on to record his second under-par tournament finish at The Goodwin with a 5-under 205 (68-65-71) to place 14th for his second top-20 performance. Ereño Perez owns UCLA's best counting score average with 71.9 strokes per round (15 counting rounds out of his 18 total rounds played).
 
Mueller has competed in UCLA's last five competitions, recording only one under-par tournament finish at the Amer Ari Invitational on Feb. 3-5 with a 7-under 209 (72-69-68). Mueller's tied for 23rd finish at the Amer Ari was the closest he's came to cracking the top 20. He has one other under-par round since, coming in the first round of the Southern Highlands Collegiate with a 2-under 70 on Feb. 27.
 
Greene will be making his season debut this weekend. He last competed at the 2021 Pac-12 Championships at Mayacama Golf Club in Santa Rosa, Calif., where he posted a 20-over 308 finish for 69th. Greene averaged 75.1 strokes per round during the 2020-21 campaign.
 
LAST TIME AT THE THUNDERBIRD
The Bruins finished 17th out of 17 teams at 23-over 875 (294-287-294). TCU won the event by four strokes at 34-under 818 (274-264-280). There was a three-way tie on the individual leader board for first place between New Mexico's Albert Boneta, Texas Tech's Ludvig Aberg and Utah's Blake Tomlinson at 12-under 201.
 
Bryan Teoh was the Bruins' top finisher at 2-under 211 (71-71-69).