April 27, 2005

The 14th-ranked UCLA men's golf team finished fourth at the 46th Pacific-10 Men's Golf Championship. By finishing ahead of USC (seventh), the Bruins earned five points in the Lexus Gauntlet competition and clinched the 2004-2005 race for the trophy.

UCLA entered the week with a 55-40 lead in the fourth annual Gauntlet competition. By reaching 60 points, UCLA assured itself of its second victory in four years. The men's and women's track teams compete against the Trojans this Saturday at USC with five points on the line for each meet.

It takes 57.5 points to win the competition outright. Even if USC were to sweep the track points and earn back 2.5 points each in men's and women's tennis if the schools meet in NCAA competition (the schools tied 1-1 in both men's and women's tennis, each earning 2.5 points per sport), the best it could do would be a 55-55 tie. UCLA would win on the first tie breaker (regular-season head-to-head competition).

Last year, USC won the Gauntlet by a score of 57.5-52.5. The first two races ended in 55-55 ties and had to be decided by tie breakers. In 2002-2003, UCLA won the competition on the second tie breaker (post-season head-to-head) while USC won the first Gauntlet competition on the first tie breaker (regular-season head-to-head meetings).

This year is the fourth year that UCLA and USC are competing for the Lexus Gauntlet, which is awarded on an annual basis to the school that does the best in head-to-head competition. In each sport, points are awarded to the winner of each contest and the school with the most points at the end of the year receives the Lexus Gauntlet. The Southern California Lexus Dealer Association is the title sponsor of every UCLA-USC athletic event.