By Tan Nguyen
Daily Bruin Contributor
After an impressive performance that produced a fifth place
finish at its last tournament, the Stanford Pepsi Invitational,
expectations were high as the UCLA women’s golf team entered
this week’s Auburn Tiger Derby Invitational. However,
expectations are hard to live up to.
After firing a first-round 310 and a second-round 309, the
Bruins found themselves in 11th place Sunday, but with a full round
to go and plenty of time to make up ground.
Unfortunately, the women’s golf team was not able to
repeat their late final round heroics at Stanford and move up the
scoreboard. With a final-round 309, the team ended the final round
exactly where they began it, at 11th place.
The team simply never seemed to hit their stride during the
tournament.
“In order to do well, we all need to click,” coach
Carrie Leary said.
With the exception of two bright performances from Melissa
Martin and Alicia Um, which earned them 13th and 27th-place
individual finishes, respectively, the team never did click.
Martin and Um were the only two Bruins to finish the tournament
in the top 45 individually. In the Stanford Pepsi Invitational, all
five members of the UCLA women’s golf team finished in the
top 45.
One team that did click was the defending national champion
Georgia Bulldogs. Low rounds from Summer Sirmons, Angela Jerman and
Natalia Nicholls helped Georgia become this year’s Auburn
Tiger Derby Invitational champions.
Only time will tell if UCLA can consistently click as a team, as
they did on that glorious afternoon on the fairways of the Stanford
Golf Course.