EVANS, Ga. -- UCLA established a tournament record with a 20-under 268 Sunday to cruise to a 16-shot victory in the 30th Administaff Augusta State Invitational at Champions Retreat Golf Club.
The Bruins, ranked fifth in Golfweek and sixth by Golfstat, set a new tourney record for the lowest second round. The previous mark of 16-under 272 was shared by Georgia Tech (2003) and Tennessee (2002). The win was the first of the spring and fourth of the season for UCLA, in its first season under head coach Derek Freeman.
“This is a great win against a really good, quality field on an absolutely incredible golf course,” Freeman said. “We started off the spring not playing very well. I really challenged our guys the last two weeks and today they did a great job.”
The rain-shortened tournament was the first 36-hole event in the event’s history since 1979, when Augusta College claimed the title.
In a field that included six of the top 10 and 12 of the nation’s top 40 teams, UCLA junior Lucas Lee made it a clean sweep for the Bruins as he captured medalist honors by two strokes over East Tennessee State’s Gareth Shaw. Lee carded a seven-under 65 that included eight birdies. He recovered from his only bogey on the par-four fifth with birdies on six of his last 12 holes. The victory was the fifth of Lee’s collegiate career and the first this season
“During the practice round on Thursday I was hitting it really bad,” Lee said. “The guys on the team were getting on me and calling me LPGA because I was 30 yards behind them all day (on Thursday). I just kept working on it on the range and tried some different things and something clicked. ”
ETSU’s Shaw tallied a five-under 67 and finished two shots back of Lee at eight-under 136. Georgia’s Adam Mitchell and UCLA’s Erik Flores and Kevin Chappell all tied for third at six-under 138.
Second-ranked Georgia posted a 10-under 278 and finished in second place. East Tennessee State took third, one shot back of the Bulldogs, while South Carolina and North Carolina rounded out the top five at -3 and -1, respectively.
Host Augusta State tied for 12th place with Georgia State. The Jaguars, sparked by freshman Henrik Norlander’s three-under 69, turned in a one-under 287. Norlander and senior Keith Guest (72) paced ASU with a tie for 15th. Freshmen Olle Bengtsson and Carter Newman each booked a one-over 73 and tied for 63rd, while sophomore Mitch Krywulycz tied for 77th at nine-over 153.
For full-field results of the Administaff ASU Invitational, visit www.golfstat.com.