WOMEN’S GOLF Arizona Wildcat Invitational
Today-Wednesday All day Tucson, Ariz.
JENNIFER YUEN/Daily Bruin Staff
By Michelle Coppolella
Daily Bruin Contributor
The UCLA women’s golf team hopes to redeem its No. 18
position as it competes in the Arizona Wildcat Invitational in
Tucson, Ariz. today and Wednesday.
The Bruins’ lineup will consist of freshmen Melissa Martin
and Gina Umeck, sophomore Vivan Phosomran, and seniors Leilani
Bagby and Laura Moffat.
The absence of No. 1 Duke from the tournament leaves hope for a
promising finish for the Bruins. However, fending off especially
dangerous No. 2 Arizona will be no easy feat. The Wildcats are
coming off a first place finish in last week’s Regional
Challenge with strong individual performances from No. 3 Natalie
Gulbis, who captured first place, and No. 1 Lorena Ochoa, who
captured second. Other tough competitors include No. 3 USC and No.
4 Stanford.
Last week the Bruins finished a disappointing 15th place out of
18 teams with a team score of 940 in the Regional Challenge. Martin
provided the top individual performance for the Bruins, shooting a
231 to take 37th place. Not far behind, Bagby shot 235 to place
57th.
Moffat shot 241 to place 69th, sophomore Saki Uechi shot 244 to
place 75th, and Umeck shot 245 to place 78th to round out the
Bruins’ performance.
Head Coach Carrie Leary was surprised by the team’s poor
performance in the tournament, but she noted the improvement shown
as the tournament progressed.
“We need to change just about everything in our
game,” she said. “It was undoubtedly disappointing to
do so poorly in the first round, but I think the fact that our
third round performance was our best of the tournament says a lot
about the team’s character.”
Leary felt that the long break between the fall and winter golf
seasons could have played a role in the Bruins’ poor
performance in the Regional Challenge, but she has high hopes for
the team this week.
“Last week was a wake up call,” Leary said.
“We were definitely shaken by our poor performance, but our
confidence and morale is high. I hope this tournament we show
ourselves ““ our real selves.”