The U.C.L.A. Men's Golf team is one of eight teams to advance to the match play round of the NCAA golf championships that begins today. After 54 holes of stroke play, the Bruins finished 9 shots over par, good enough for second place, just 2 shots behind Alabama. The Bruins number 2 position sets up their first match play round today with the #7 qualifier Oregon, who finished 12 shots back of the Bruins after the three rounds of stroke play. The tournament continues at Riviera Country Club just down Sunset from U.C.L.A. The Bruins and Ducks first pairing will tee off today at 11:30 PT.

Behind Bama and U.C.L.A., Texas, San Diego State, California, and Washington took spots 3-6 (Somewhere, Larry Scott is sipping an Arnold Palmer and smiling). Kent State and Florida State tied for the eighth and final spot and have a playoff this morning to determine who is the final qualifier that will face Alabama.

Should the Bruins get past the Ducks today, they will meet the winner of the Texas - Washington matchup on Saturday.

Individually, sophomore Patrick Cantlay was the highest Bruin finishing in a tie for fourth place after shooting the low round for the tournament yesterday with a 66. Not far behind were teammates junior Pedro Figueiredo and sophomore Anton Arboleda who tied for 13th place overall. Alex Kim tied for 54th overall and Pontus Widegren tied for 120th.

You can watch the live video coverage beginning at 1 pm PT and follow the updates below in our open thread. Go Bruins!

Update: The match play scoreboard is now up.