UCLA Sports Information Senior Laura
Moffat is expected to be a leader for the 18th-ranked
women’s golf team for the 2000-2001 season.
By Pauline Vu
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
At first glance, things look bleak for this year’s UCLA
women’s golf team.
Not only did last year’s team not make the cut to the NCAA
Championship, they lost to graduation Amanda Moltke-Leth, the one
player who nearly qualified as an individual.
Still, second-year head coach Carrie Leary remains optimistic
about her 18th-ranked Bruins.
“I think the team looks good this year. Everybody on the
team last year came back looking like they improved a lot over the
summer. Plus, we have a lot of talented new freshmen,” she
said.
Leary is not exaggerating, neither about the improvement of the
returners nor the talent of the freshmen. Just take a look at some
individual Bruins’ summer track record:
WOMEN’S GOLF SCHEDULE This schedule only lists
the women’s fall schedule. Â Date
Opponent / Tournament 09/21-09/23 10/09-10/11
10/20-10/22 10/31-11/01 @ Dick McGuire @ University of Washington @
Stanford    – Pepsi Invitational @ University of
Hawaii    Fall Invitational  SOURCE: Sports
Info (schedule is tentative) Original by JACOB LIAO/Daily Bruin Web
Adaptation by HERNANE TABAY/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Senior Laura
Moffat, a member of the Scottish National Team, won the World
Junior Ladies Amateur in Europe. She also placed second in the
European Ladies Team Championships.
Junior Alicia Um won the Ventura County Women’s Amateur
Championships and also qualified for the U.S. Amateur.
True freshman Gina Umeck won the Ping Phoenix Invitational as a
junior competitor.
This freshman class is already making an impact, and not only
giving the veterans a run for their money, but for the traveling
spots as well.
With three seniors, one junior, four sophomores and six freshmen
all battling for five traveling spots, the players are guaranteed
nothing and must prove themselves over and over again in each
tournament.
But then again, this only forces the women to push each other to
new heights.
“Is it competitive?” Moffat asked. “Yeah,
it’s pressure, but I think it’s good pressure because
the people who come out on top are going to be the best
ones.”
MASTERCARD COLLEGIATE GOLF POLL This poll for
men’s golf was last updated 09/06/2000. Â Â 1.
Clemson 2. Georgia 3. Georgia Tech 4. Arizona State 5. Houston 6.
Arizona 7. UNLV 8. Oklahoma State 9. Texas 10. Northwestern 11.
Florida 12. New Mexico 13. TCU 14. Wake Forest 15. Augusta State
16. South Carolina 17. North Florida 18. Auburn 19. Brigham Young
20. Kent State  SOURCE: www.espn.com *poll data
updated 10/04/2000 Original by JACOB LIAO/Daily Bruin Web
Adaptation by HERNANE TABAY/Daily Bruin Senior Staff
With a 14-player lineup, the theme for this year’s
women’s golf team is depth.
“We have a lot more depth and strength than we did last
year,” Moffat said.
There will be a two-team system throughout the year: the Gold
squad and the Blue squad. The top nine golfers will be on the Gold
team, from which the traveling five will be selected. The remaining
five will be on the Blue team, where the players can better develop
their game.
The teams will be re-evaluated on a monthly basis, with the
possibility of players moving between teams based on
performance.
Before the team’s first tournament, the Dick McGuire
tournament in New Mexico from Sept. 21-23, the Bruins had an
in-team playoff to see who should go. In that event, redshirt
freshmen Saki Uechi and true freshman Melissa Martin placed in the
top five along with Moffat, Um and Umeck.
For September, they are automatically members of the Gold
squad.
Last year Moffat was a second-team Pac-10 All-Academic with a
3.39 GPA in physiological science complementing her 74.8 stroke
average. She traveled to every tournament last year and won her
first event, the Rainbow Wahine Classic.
So with skill, intelligence and a blossoming leadership ability,
UCLA has in Moffat an invaluable player.
“I look to Laura to be our leader. I believe she has the
talent to be an All-American,” Leary said.
Um is arguably UCLA’s most improved golfer. At the
beginning of last year she came to Leary to talk about some
problems ““ mostly because she was frustrated about poor
results on the golf course and in the classroom. After the fall
season, Um seriously considered quitting.
But Um re-evaluated her situation.
“It took a lot of thought, but she realized that she could
be great at both (golf and school),” Leary said. “Her
desire was there.”
And once Um made that decision, it was reflected in her
score.
“Without her last year, we wouldn’t have gotten as
far as we did,” Leary said. “Once she really put her
mind to it, she did it. She came to terms with her golf
demons.”
Uechi redshirted last year because Leary felt her game needed
the improvement that experience brings.
Now that improvement is there.
Although she didn’t compete, Uechi constantly attended
practice. She opened the year shooting in the mid-80s and ended it
shooting in the low 70s.
“I’m really proud of her. She’s come so far
with her game and her confidence level,” Leary said.
And then there is true freshman Umeck, whom Leary says has
everything it takes to succeed. Intelligence, talent, drive ““
and a perfectionist attitude.
“Which can hurt,” Leary said of the last quality
with a laugh. “But she’s a keeper, definitely. By the
time she leaves here she will be an All-American.”
Martin, the true freshman who rounds out the five, was a
recruited walk-on. Leary calls her another potential All-American
with the kind of desire Martin possesses.
Including the Dick McGuire, the women’s golf team will
play in three other fall tournaments. After their fall season ends
on Nov. 1, the team has a break until Feb. 12-14, when they open
their spring season with the Regional Challenge.
Although collegiate golf is unusual in that it has both a fall
season and a spring season, all the tournaments count equally to
determine rankings and a berth to the NCAA Regionals.
This year, golf will have three regionals ““ West, Central
and East ““ based not on geographic location, as was done in
the past, but on rankings.
Of 20 teams competing in each regional, the top eight will gain
berths to the NCAA Championship.
“I fully expect this team to go to Nationals and be ranked
in the top 10. There’s not even a question about it,”
Leary said.
Well, last year’s miss to nationals wasn’t as bad as
it looked for UCLA. The Bruins, who came in 14th at the NCAA West
Regionals, only missed 13th place and a championship berth by five
strokes.
Then again, this fact might have just made things more
painful.
“It was disappointing last year because we knew that we
were one of the better teams there,” Leary said.
But disappointments like that can be great motivators too.
“All the girls who missed it last year, we’re all
ready for this year,” Moffat said. “It just makes us
want to win more.”
This year’s team better be motivated, because with the
depth and talent she has, Leary won’t be satisfied with
anything less than a trip to Daytona Beach, Fla., where the NCAA
Championships will be.
Close but not quite there won’t be good enough this
year.