Virginia journeyed to Alpharetta, Ga., this weekend to compete in the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate. With an incredibly strong slate of teams that featured the likes of Duke, UCLA, Tennessee and Vanderbilt, the Cavaliers had their work cut out for them if they wanted to nestle themselves into contention.
Evidently, they took this challenge to heart, rattling off birdie after birdie in the opening round Friday to establish a firm grip on the first-place spot. Sophomore Josh Duangmanee led the way with a four-under 68, while juniors Bryan Lee and Ben James also contributed under-par scores with a 71 and 69, respectively. A resolute 72 from senior Paul Chang and a middling 74 courtesy of senior Deven Patel helped give Virginia a minute one-stroke cushion at the top of the leaderboard above second-place UCLA.
Round two marked another encouraging performance for the Cavaliers, this time with Lee leading the charge with a 69. Duangmanee was not far behind with a 70, and Chang and James once again came through, this time with inspired rounds of 72 and 71, respectively.
Patel remained rather unremarkable, with a three-over 75 tainting his tournament a little more. He was the only Cavalier with an above-par individual score after the first two rounds, which perhaps says more about just how good Virginia is than it does about Patel.
Despite the exemplary performance, Virginia was forced to confront the fact that it had relinquished its first-place position after UCLA supplanted it with a second-straight eight-under round.
The third and final round of the event was rather pedestrian for the Cavaliers, as they never quite built up the momentum to make a push for reclaiming their spot atop the leaderboard.
James shot his tournament high with a 72, and Chang strayed from an even-par score for the first time in the event, carding a 74. Patel did show some improvement, but a final-round 73 solidified this weekend as one better left in the past.
Perhaps the silver lining in Virginia’s slow and steady descent was the fiery persistence of Lee and Duangmanee, who held strong with respective final-round scores of 69 and 70. This left them tied with each other and two other competitors for second place on the individual leaderboard.
For Duangmanee, one of college golf’s most promising youngsters, in particular, it is a watershed moment. A player who has had the tendency in the past to regress to the mean after going low, his game finally came together for all three rounds of an event, and the way in which he went about his work showed flashes of brilliance. If he can continue to cobble together an all-around on-course product like he did this weekend, a solo collegiate victory is sure to be imminent.
When all was said and done, the Cavaliers sat in third place, their third consecutive such finish. The No. 4 team in the nation has been a beacon of consistency and has shown that, when functioning at its very best, it is a force to be reckoned with.
Virginia will have to wait for an opportunity to fulfill that fate, however, as this weekend’s event marked the conclusion of the fall season. The Cavaliers will have a few months to recover and build on an encouraging start before they embark on yet another trip to Georgia for the Thomas Sharkey Individual in Statesboro, Ga., starting Feb. 2.
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