Tag: Omar Morales

UCLA men run away with Preserve Golf Club Collegiate title to wrap up fall season

The Bruins are trending as they wrap up their fall season.

CARMEL, Calif. – The UCLA men’s golf team set its season on a new track Tuesday at the Preserve Golf Club Collegiate, surging in the final of three rounds to a 10-shot win over San Diego State and 11 other squads at Preserve Golf Club.

The Bruins entered the final round trailing San Diego State by a shot after the opening 36-hole day Monday. UCLA combined to shoot 11 under in the final round, good for a 23-under 841 total at the hilly Tom Fazio-designed layout at the expansive Santa Lucia Preserve on the Monterey Peninsula. Cal Poly was the host team.

The victory followed on the heels of a second-place finish at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate Invitational last week. That result followed fifth-place and seventh-place finishes to start the season. UCLA coach Armen Kirakossian said Tuesday that his squad had played well enough in each event, except for struggles to finish.

“Honestly, I think it was just a learning thing,” Kirakossian said. “In Georgia, we actually played a great final round and just got beat by a great Duke team that day.

“We felt like we kind of got over the hump of, you know, of getting a lead and then actually performing. Then today, I think the guys probably felt very comfortable. And they just went on and had a great final round.”

Senior Pablo Ereno (68-74-66–208) led the Bruins on the individual leaderboard, finishing one shot behind Colorado State’s Jay Pabin (69-69-69–207). UCLA senior Omar Morales (68-73-70–211) finished tied for sixth individually, and Baylor Larrabee (70-70-72–212) finished ninth.

The high finishes have added meaning for Morales and Ereno, who are in position on the PGA Tour University standings to earn status on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Morales was in fifth place before the Preserve tournament, meaning he was in position to earn status on the Korn Ferry Tour for the remainder of that tour’s 2025 season after the NCAA Championship in May, and also the right to skip to the final stage of PGA Tour Q-School for the next season, among other benefits. The PGA Tour U standings will be updated Wednesday.

Ereno was in 12th place on those standings heading into the Preserve tournament, which would give him status in May for the remainder of the North America Swing of PGA Tour Americas and an exemption into second stage of PGA Tour Q-School. If the strong finish Tuesday moves him into the top 10, he would be in position to earn conditional status on the Korn Ferry Tour for the remainder of the 2025 season after May, exempt status for the 2025 North America Swing of PGA Tour Americas and an exemption into second stage of PGA Tour Q-School.

Kirakossian said his players embrace such opportunities, but for now his squad is thrilled with its first win of the fall season.

“I always remind the guys that you just have got to stay hungry, that where you want to be needs to continue to be in in the future, that you’re pushing every single day to improve,” the Bruins coach said. “That doesn’t mean that we won’t celebrate this one on the way home. It’s a cool way to finish the fall, for sure.

“The unique part is that everyone’s contributing, yet everyone still has stuff that they probably want to work on for the spring.”

Omar Morales qualifies for US Open

Omar headed for the Open.

Former UCLA Bruins golf star Omar Morales has qualified for the 2024 US Open.  Morales was terrific shooting an 11 under, 133 on Monday. This was the final day of qualifying at Daly City. There were four spots up for grabs.

The 21-year-old from Mexico was a 2 time Pac-12 golfer of the year. He made 18 starts with the Bruins golf team and played in 55 rounds in his career. He grabbed two wins and had five Top 10 finishes.

The US Open will take place at Pinehurst starting next week. He did participate in the 123rd U.S. Open and was cut after Day 2, as he was +9 in 2023. He also had the honor of hitting the opening tee shot a season ago in Los Angeles.

Last season Wyndham Clark won his first at the Los Angeles Country Club. Brooks Koepka is the last golfer to win it back to back, in 2017 and 2018. No Mexican-born golfer has ever won the event.

Santiago de la Fuente punches Masters, British Open tickets with 2024 Latin America Amateur win

De la Fuente is a senior at the University of Houston.

A pair of major championship tickets have been punched in Panama.

Mexico’s Santiago De la Fuente shot a 6-under 64 in the final round, the low round of the day, to win the 2024 Latin America Amateur Championship at Santa Maria Golf Club in Panama City by two shots over his fellow countryman Omar Morales (69). With the victory, de la Fuente has earned a spot in both the 2024 Masters at Augusta National and 2024 Open Championship at Royal Troon.

In addition to the Masters and Open, de la Fuente has also earned invitations to this summer’s Amateur Championship and the U.S. Amateur. He and Morales are also exempt to the final stage of qualifying for the U.S. Open. De la Fuente finished T-2 one shot behind champion Aaron Jarvis in 2022.

De la Fuente is a senior at the University of Houston and finished T-2 at the Argent Financial Classic earlier this fall. Morales is a junior at UCLA and finished T-1 in October at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate and finished runner-up two weeks later at the Cal Poly Invitational.

Past winners

2024 — Santiago de la Fuente

2023 — Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira

2022 — Aaron Jarvis

2021 — Canceled

2020 — Abel Gallegos

2019 — Alvaro Ortiz

2018 — Joaquín Niemann

2017 — Toto Gana

2016 — Paul Chaplet

2015 — Matias Domínguez

UFC parts ways with eight fighters, including two after decade-long tenures

Eight fighters are no longer on the UFC roster including two fighters who have been with the promotion for approximately a decade each.

Eight fighters are no longer on the UFC roster, including two athletes who were with the promotion approximately a decade each.

Whether it was the impending wave of fighters who will be signed to compete on “Dana White’s Contender Series,” Season 7 or simply performance or contract-based decisions, the promotion parted ways with these fighters in recent weeks.

Algorithm-based Twitter account UFC Roster Watch first published the transactions when the promotion removed the fighters from official rankings eligibility.

Unless denoted, it is unclear whether each athlete was released or fought out their contract.

UFC 286 post-event facts: Justin Gaethje’s insane bonus streak continues

Check out the numbers to come out of UFC 286, where Justin Gaethje made more history with another Fight of the Night effort.

The UFC hosted its fourth numbered event of the year on Saturday with UFC 286, which took place at The O2 in London and saw home country hero [autotag]Leon Edwards[/autotag] compete in the main event.

Edwards (20-3 MMA, 12-2 UFC) registered his first welterweight title defense when he edged rival [autotag]Kamaru Usman[/autotag] (20-3 MMA, 15-2 UFC) by majority decision in their trilogy bout, giving him a 2-1 lead in their series.

For more on the numbers behind the headliner, as well as the rest of the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts from UFC 286.

UFC 286 Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay: Leon Edwards gets maximum money

Fighters from Saturday’s UFC 286 took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $266,500.

LONDON – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC 286 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $266,500.

The program, a comprehensive plan that includes outfitting requirements, media obligations and other items under the fighter code of conduct, replaces the previous payments made under the UFC Athlete Outfitting Policy.

UFC 286 took place at The O2. The main card aired on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPNews and ESPN+.

The full UFC 286 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:

* * * *

[autotag]Leon Edwards[/autotag]: $42,000
[autotag]Kamaru Usman[/autotag]: $32,000

[autotag]Justin Gaethje[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Rafael Fiziev[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Gunnar Nelson[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Bryan Barberena[/autotag]: $16,000

[autotag]Jennifer Maia[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Casey O’Neill[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Marvin Vettori[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Roman Dolidze[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Jack Shore[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Makwan Amirkhani[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Chris Duncan[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Omar Morales[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Yanal Ashmoz[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Sam Patterson[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Muhammad Mokaev[/autotag]: $4,500
[autotag]Jafel Filho[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Lerone Murphy[/autotag]: $4,500
[autotag]Gabriel Santos[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Christian Duncan[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Dusko Todorovic[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Jake Hadley[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Malcolm Gordon[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Joanne Wood[/autotag]: $16,000
[autotag]Luana Carolina[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Jai Herbert[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Ludovit Klein[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Veronica Hardy[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Juliana Miller[/autotag]: $4,000

Under the UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance program’s payout tiers, which appropriate the money generated by Venum’s multi-year sponsorship with the UFC, fighters are paid based on their total number of UFC bouts, as well as Zuffa-era WEC fights (January 2007 and later) and Zuffa-era Strikeforce bouts (April 2011 and later). Fighters with 1-3 bouts receive $4,000 per appearance; 4-5 bouts get $4,500; 6-10 bouts get $6,000; 11-15 bouts earn $11,000; 16-20 bouts pocket $16,000; and 21 bouts and more get $21,000. Additionally, champions earn $42,000 while title challengers get $32,000.

In addition to experience-based pay, UFC fighters will receive in perpetuity royalty payments amounting to 20-30 percent of any UFC merchandise sold that bears their likeness, according to officials.

Full 2023 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:

Year-to-date total: $1,634,000
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $16,153,000

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 286.

Matchup Roundup: New UFC and Bellator fights announced in the past week (Feb. 6-12)

All the UFC and Bellator fight announcements that were first reported or confirmed by MMA Junkie in the past week.

MMA fight announcements are hard to follow. With so many outlets and channels available, it’s nearly impossible to organize.

But here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got your back.

Each week, we’ll compile all the newly surfaced fights in one spot. Every Monday, expect a feature listing everything you might have missed from the UFC or Bellator.

Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie from Feb. 6-12.

Matchup Roundup: New UFC and Bellator fights announced in the past week (Dec. 26-Jan. 1)

All the UFC and Bellator fight announcements that were first reported or confirmed by MMA Junkie in the past week.

MMA fight announcements are hard to follow. With so many outlets and channels available, it’s nearly impossible to organize.

But here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got your back.

Each week, we’ll compile all the newly surfaced fights in one spot. Every Monday, expect a feature listing everything you might have missed from the UFC or Bellator.

Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie from Dec. 26-Jan. 1.

Matchup Roundup: New UFC and Bellator fights announced in the past week (Oct. 31-Nov. 6)

All the UFC and Bellator fight announcements that were first reported or confirmed by MMA Junkie in the past week.

MMA fight announcements are hard to follow. With so many outlets and channels available, it’s nearly impossible to organize.

But here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got your back.

Each week, we’ll compile all the newly surfaced fights in one spot. Every Monday, expect a feature listing everything you might have missed from the UFC or Bellator.

Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie from Oct. 31-Nov. 6.