Midterms, illness and an unfamiliar course were not enough to weigh the Bruins down.
Then-No. 11 UCLA women’s golf placed third with a 18-over 870 mark at the Alice and John Wallace Classic in Palm Desert, California, overcoming high fevers en route to its second-straight strong finish after a win at the Therese Hession Regional Challenge from Feb. 1 to Feb. 3. The Wallace Classic, which took place Saturday through Monday, saw the Bruins battle 15 teams at the Monterey Country Club, a course wholly new to the team.
The squad’s success throughout the winter has been spearheaded by freshman Kacey Ly, who notched her second-straight fourth-place finish with her even-par 213. Ly, who placed in the 20s and 30s throughout the fall, also showed out in the Battle of LA on Jan. 23, where she went half against USC’s Catherine Park, one of the world’s highest-ranked amateurs.
Ly said her newfound success has been more about working out freshman-year kinks than changing her game.
“I’m just getting more adjusted to how college golf is and how academics are and how to balance it,” Ly said. “It doesn’t feel that much different than in the fall. It’s just different results.”
Ly is one of six underclassmen on a young Bruin team, and coach Alicia Um Holmes said Ly’s results represent the entire team’s ability to score low. Holmes added that the true challenge for the squad now is keeping the bad days good, an area where work from inside 120 yards can make a difference.
Beyond Ly, sophomores Angela Liu and Maye Huang also contributed to the team score. Liu’s 4-over 217 got her to 12th place, while Huang placed 21st with an 8-over 221, a result marred by a 6-over performance in the third round that dropped her 10 spots.
Sophomore Jenny Lee and senior Meghan Royal rounded out the team performance at 36th and 74th place, respectively, while junior Jennifer Seo took 18th competing independently.
Regardless of age or experience, illness has the potential to strike any athlete down.
“There were many factors going against us,” Um Holmes said. “Half of our team was really sick. … Three of them had fevers, over 100 [degrees] every day.”
Beyond the sickness, the Bruins also faced an unknown course, entering the weekend without much more than a yardage book. The typical practice round was also replaced by a short event in which the collegiate athletes played alongside club members, something Um Holmes said was enjoyable but limited the squad’s ability to prepare.
Ly, whose familiarity with the region’s courses as a junior golf veteran and a Temple City, California, local may have tempered that issue, mentioned a different additional difficulty. The compressed quarter system brings midterms in rapid succession, and Ly said squeezing in studying with golf was a familiar challenge.
Despite the challenges, UCLA was approaching a second-place result before a late surge from Eastern Michigan dropped the Bruins down a spot. Familiar opponent No. 2 USC found the win, either tying for the lead or leading the field in all three rounds on the way to an over-25 stroke victory.
Um Holmes said, all things considered, the Bruins had a good result
“We actually did fairly well for what we had going,” Um Holmes said. “Third place is not bad, but I know we could have done better.”
UCLA Athletics did not make a second athlete available for interview.
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