After the conclusion of competition Tuesday at Southern Highlands Golf Club, the Cavaliers sat at 10-over par, 19 strokes behind the champion, Auburn. Statistically, this was the worst performance of the year for Virginia, but numbers can be deceiving. The Cavaliers still finished fourth on a hard course in Las Vegas, rebounding from a rough seventh-place finish at the Puerto Rico Classic.
The Puerto Rico Classic included four teams in the top 20 besides Virginia — including No. 1 Ole Miss and then-No. 2 Oklahoma — and six programs met that standard at the Southern Highlands Collegiate, including current No. 2 Auburn. Both tournaments saw the Cavaliers face tough competition, but there was a disparity between how well these teams performed in the tournaments relative to their ranking, likely due to unranked Purdue overperforming in Puerto Rico and actually winning the competition.
This week, despite the competition, junior Ben James finished third overall, one of the better individual placements of any UVA player this year, scoring an even-par 72, a three-under 69, and a one-under 71 to finish at four-under. By contrast, the best Virginia golfer in Puerto Rico finished sixth.
Southern Highlands Golf Club is considered a quite difficult course. It has thick rough and extremely narrow fairways, which exacerbates the effects of bad weather. Unfortunately for the golfers in this week’s tournament, the area was buffeted by strong winds on the first two days of competition, with gusts reaching as high as 46 mph.
Every single member of the team besides James finished outside the top 20, but they also all ended strong with personal-best performances — for the tournament — in the third round. Senior Deven Patel improved with each round after a sputtering start, scoring a five-over 77 and a three-over 75 but ending with a nice three-under 69 for a five-over finish. He finished tied for 21st overall with fellow senior Paul Chang, who went even in the first round with a 72, then stumbled to a 78 in the second before a strong 71 in the third.
Sophomore Josh Duangmanee and junior Bryan Lee had the most dramatic improvements through the tournament. Duangmanee posted a middling 76 followed by subpar 78, but, similar to the rest of his teammates, ended strong with a 71 to finish nine-over and in 39th place. Lee’s first round was absolutely brutal, with his 83 being the worst individual score any Cavalier has had in any round across the entire season. He managed an admirable pair of 73s in the final two rounds, but it wasn’t enough to salvage the tournament for him. Lee finished 13-over and in 63rd place.
Relative to the rest of their year, men’s golf underperformed in Las Vegas. However, relative to the conditions and to the play of their competition, the Cavaliers overperformed. This team is considered among the best in the country. They are capable of winning tournaments — they did just that at the Inverness Intercollegiate in their first competition of the season. Performances like this week’s are why.
The John Hayt Invitational runs from March Saturday to Monday in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. The Cavaliers’ grit will be tested again in what could be another tournament in difficult weather conditions.
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