As UCLA women’s golf coach Carrie Forsyth watched her
top-seeded Bruins compete during the first round of the NCAA West
Regional on Thursday, she saw something the rest of her team
couldn’t. While all five Bruins were intently focused on
their individual rounds, Forsyth paced up and down the New Mexico
State University Golf Course, watching in frustration as each of
her players struggled. Putts were lipping out, yardages were being
misjudged and the stiff New Mexico breeze was tossing around
everything from the Bruins’ golf balls to the team’s
confidence. When the Bruins completed their round, an initial
glance at the leaderboard confirmed that they shot an abnormally
poor team total of 16-over par, were tied for a very disappointing
10th place and trailed first-round leader Tennessee by 13 shots.
What the leaderboard did not convey, however, was that UCLA labored
through arguably its worst collective round of the year at one of
the worst possible times of the season, to which the Bruins were
afterward speechless in trying to explain why. “Everyone was
off today, for whatever reason,” Forsyth said. “I
definitely feel confident in the team, but I don’t want to
take anything for granted. To do what we did today was
ridiculous.” Usually reliant on at least one player to post
an impressive under-par score, none of UCLA’s five players
came close to sniffing par during Thursday’s first round.
Sophomore Hannah Jun, who had been struggling coming into the
regional, didn’t so much pace the Bruins as she minimized the
damage with a team-leading 2-over par 74. After Jun, not a single
Bruin posted a round better than a 4-over par 76, as UCLA carded
nearly three times as many bogeys as birdies. And while the team
described Thursday as “just one of those bizarre” days
when no one played well, the biggest surprise to come out of the
first round may have come from senior team leader Charlotte
Mayorkas, whose 6-over par 78 was the dropped score on the day.
“Nobody was hot,” said Forsyth. “Nobody was doing
anything spectacular. It was very, very subdued, and our score
reflects that.” While the positives to come out of
Thursday’s first round were few and far between, Forsyth felt
fortunate that such a poor performance happened when it did, and
not in the NCAA Championships which begin on May 17. Still, Forsyth
planned to meet with the team following Thursday’s round to
make sure her players understood that they cannot take anything for
granted. UCLA, currently in 10th, needs to finish as one of the
top-eight finishers in its regional to be invited to play in the
national championship. “Stranger things have happened,”
Forsyth said. “They just have to know you can’t go out
there and cruise on talent alone. You have to make good decisions
and be fired up to play.”
FRINGE FACTS: Winds of up to 20 miles per hour wreaked havoc
with the 21-team field, one of the main reasons UCLA struggled on
Thursday. The blustery conditions forced the Bruins to second-guess
many of their shots, something Forsyth said she would address with
her team. … Last year, No. 3 Auburn, the top seed in its
regional, failed to qualify for the NCAA Championships, which it
was hosting.