UCLA Sports Info True freshman Johanna
Andersson earned medalist honors and led the Bruin blue
team to a first place finish at the SDSU Fall Classic. SDSU
Fall Classic 1. UCLA Blue 905 Stanford
Invitational 1. Arizona 873 2. USC 879 3.
Stanford 886 8. UCLA Gold 918
By Pauline Vu
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
The gold team of the No. 16 Bruin women’s golf team headed
north to place eighth at the Stanford Pepsi Invitational last
weekend, but it was the second string blue team that really made
waves down in San Diego at the San Diego State Fall Classic.
There the blue team blew away the field, with the Bruins
standing in first, second, third, fourth and eighth when the
tournament ended Monday afternoon.
“They really buckled down and focused and did all the
things they had to do on the golf course,” said assistant
coach Ken Lewis, who went with the blue team to San Diego while
head coach Carrie Leary went to Stanford.
UCLA took first place with a team score of 905. The second place
team was Colorado State at 935 ““ a full 30 strokes behind the
Bruins.
True freshman Johanna Andersson took home medalist honors with a
4-over par 223. Freshman Melissa Martin and senior Leilani Bagby
tied for second place (228), redshirt freshman Vivan Phosomran tied
for fourth (229), and sophomore Bridget Dwyer placed eighth overall
(233).
“When we went there, we said, “˜We’re gonna
win,’ but you never know how good the other teams are,”
Andersson said. “After that first day we saw that we were a
lot better.”
The field wasn’t very tough ““ Bruin blue faced no
ranked teams ““ but that didn’t mean the course was any
easier.
“It was actually pretty hard,” Andersson said.
“The greens were very sloppy, the holes were long. It was a
challenging course.”
In the first round Andersson shot a low of 68. The Swedish
import attributes this to adjusting to her surroundings.
“The day when I scored 68, we had the worst weather. It
was like Swedish weather, with wind and rain and everything. So I
felt like, “˜Oh, I’m home,'” she said with a
laugh.
After the Stanford Invitational ended on Sunday, coach Leary
headed to San Diego to cheer on the blue team.
“We sent the girls down here because we wanted them to
gain more experience and more confidence,” Leary said.
“For them to go down there and just demolish the field the
way they did was a huge boost for them.”
Bruin gold didn’t fare quite so well in Stanford, where
they were eighth with a team score of 918.
True freshman Gina Umeck was first for the Bruins, placing 15th
overall with a score of 224. Senior Laura Moffat (228), junior
Alicia Um (233), redshirt freshman Saki Uechi (235) and freshman
Krystal Shearer (244) rounded out the UCLA golfers up north.
Just like in past tournaments, the Bruins weren’t
satisfied with their play.
“I thought we were going to do better,” Umeck said.
“We knew that the field was strong, but we were only a couple
shots from beating Arizona State. If we had beaten Arizona State,
it would have been satisfying.”
The Bruins were four strokes behind Arizona State. Arizona won
the Stanford Invitational with a score of 873, USC was second with
879 and Stanford was third with 886.
Leary was frustrated that, individually, the Bruins could put up
some low numbers but that they could never quite pull it together
at the same time.
“I’m always disappointed when we have to count
rounds in the high 70’s and low 80’s. We did that twice
this week,” she said. “In a field that strong, you
can’t do that. Our depth needs to step up and really start
playing well.”
The theme of the season for the golf team has been that
they’ve never played up to their potential.
“We’ve got some great freshmen who are pushing, who
are enthusiastic,” Leary said. “We’ve got a lot
of good, solid talent on our team and it’s bound to show up,
sooner or later.
“And I’d rather it be later, because that’s
when it really counts.”