Thursday, April 23, 1998
Wildcats outshoot young Bruins in Pac-10 tournament
WGOLF: UCLA improves to fourth-place finish with efforts of
freshmen
By David Arnold
Daily Bruin Contributor
Shooting the second-lowest team total in league history, the
Arizona Wildcats sealed their second-straight Pac-10 Women’s Golf
Championship Wednesday at the Tijeras Creek Golf Club. Meanwhile
the UCLA women’s golf team finished fourth.
"It was a total team effort," Arizona coach Rich LaRose said.
"All five women played great in all three rounds. I couldn’t be
happier with the way they played under some difficult
circumstances."
Finishing 16 strokes ahead of second place Arizona State, the
Wildcats were led to victory by sophomore Jenna Daniels. Daniels
broke the women’s course record in the first round with a
three-under-par, and then broke her own record the next day with a
four-under.
"I just had a lot of fun out there … it was a blast," Daniels
said, though she insisted that the team was first in her mind. "I
was concentrating on the team, and everybody played so well for the
entire tournament."
UCLA staged a comeback during the last round after falling from
sixth to seventh on Tuesday, the second day of competition.
Despite posting a 52-over as a 54-hole team score, the Bruins
continue to show marked improvement. This is evident in the change
in their scores from the three rounds of golf: 311 on Monday, 305
on Tuesday and 300 on Wednesday.
Individual performances for the Bruins also offered reasons for
optimism, as the their best performances came from their youth. In
fact, their top finisher was freshman Alicia Um who ended up in a
four-way tie for seventh place at 6 over par.
Other Bruin freshman Leilani Bagby and Laura Moffat finished at
31st and 42nd respectively, while sophomores Amandine Vincent and
Alexandra Gasser finished at 19th and 25th respectively.
The fourth-place finish in the nationally respected conference
bodes well for the Bruins who seek to repeat last year’s NCAA
Tournament appearance.
Despite the fact that last-place Washington State finished 86
strokes behind first place on a par 72 course, LaRose can still
contend that, "the Pac-10 is certainly the premier conference in
the nation."