COURTNEY STEWART Freshman Gina Umeck
takes a swing during a match earlier this season.
By Michelle Coppolella
Daily Bruin Contributor
Coming off an 11th place finish in the Arizona Wildcat
Tournament three weeks ago, the No. 18 UCLA women’s golf team
hopes to provide a more consistent team performance today and
Tuesday as they host the Pioneer Bruin Classic at Menifee Lakes
Country Club.
UCLA’s lineup will consist of seniors Laura Moffat and
Leilani Bagby, junior Alicia Um, sophomore Saki Uechi and freshman
Gina Umeck. Each member of the team will compete individually in
the tournament, providing a beneficial practice opportunity for the
Bruins.
The team hopes to take advantage of the absence of No. 1 Duke
and No. 2 Arizona from the tournament, though No. 3 USC and No. 10
Pepperdine, the event’s defending champion, will provide the
Bruins with challenging competition. No. 2 seeded Candie Kung from
USC will intensify the individual race.
Although the Bruins have had three weeks to practice for the
upcoming tournament, poor weather conditions have prevented them
from taking full advantage of the needed practice time.
“When it rains as badly as it has been, it’s
difficult to practice because a lot of our courses are
outdoor,” Head Coach Carrie Leary said. “But when we
were able to practice, it went well and the improvement in scores
showed that.”
She hopes this improvement will help the Bruins overcome the
uncharacteristically inconsistent performance they have had in the
past two tournaments. With weak first and second round scores, the
Bruins have posted their best scores in the third and final round,
which has not been enough to provide the Bruins with a top-10
finish.
“I can attribute our poor first round performances to
being a little bit nervous and not feeling fully prepared,”
Leary said. “But once we start and know the course better, it
will definitely become easier. I am confident that we’ll have
a great tournament.”