By Sean Green
Daily Bruin Contributor
The Karsten Golf Course will be the last image the No. 22 UCLA
women’s golf team remembers of its 1999-2000 season, as the
course was the obstacle that stood between five golfers and a berth
in the NCAA Championships.
The Bruins finished alone in 14th place at the NCAA West
Regionals this past weekend, five shots in back of No. 15 New
Mexico in 13th. Only the top 13 teams receive invitations to the
nationals.
“We should have qualified,” junior Laura Moffat
said. “We all could have played better.”
“Shooting 300 every day would have qualified us,”
senior Amanda Moltke-Leth added. “That shouldn’t have
been a problem for us.”
No. 1 Arizona won the event, shooting 12-over par as a team in
three rounds of play. No. 12 San Jose State finished second, No. 3
USC placed third, followed by host No. 4 Arizona State.
Individually for UCLA, Moltke-Leth and Moffat each shot three
solid rounds. Moltke-Leth tied for tenth overall at three-over par,
but she fell one stroke short of qualifying as an individual.
Moffat tied for 19th at five-over par. Although the top two players
did not break par in any round, their strong consistent play was
enough to keep UCLA’s hopes for the nationals alive.
But the other Bruin golfers struggled. Aside from a great second
round in which the highest contributing score was 74, the team was
forced to accept scores in the high 70s and into the 80s.
Going into the tournament, the team knew four of the five
players would have to play well every day.
In round one, their goal was not met as freshman Vivan Phosmran
shot an 83, forcing the team to use sophomore Alecia Um’s 82
as a contributing score. Junior Leilani Bagby also added strokes to
the total with her six-over par 78.
“We had to count a 78 and an 82,” Moltke-Leth said.
“It just kills you when you have to do that.”
Round two was definitely a positive turnaround for the
Bruins.
Their score of 298 was nine shots better than that of the
previous day, but the team failed to gain significant ground on the
field. Moltke-Leth shot 73 and Moffat, Phosmran, and Um all fired
two-over par 74s.
Entering the final round, UCLA was still in 14th place and in a
desperate mode. Low scores were necessary if the women had any hope
of playing for a shot at the national championship in two weeks.
That hope was smothered on Saturday as three of the five golfers
shot 77 or higher.
Moffat played well once again firing an even-par 72.
Moltke-Leth, in the final collegiate round shot a two-over par
74.
The Bruins had some success this year behind first-year head
coach Carrie Leary. A victory at the Rainbow Wahine Classic was the
team’s best finish of the season.
The NCAA West Regionals included the top teams in the West. UCLA
fought hard and came up short. The women now enter next season
without their star and leader senior Moltke-Leth, but with the
confidence they carried throughout Leary’s inaugural
season.
“Coach Leary was a great support for me,”
Moltke-Leth said. “Last year I had lost all my confidence.
She made me believe in myself.”