The No. 1 UCLA women’s golf team suffered from a bit of gloomy weather this weekend at the Pac-12 championship tournament.
The match was hosted by Washington State at the Palouse Ridge Golf Course in Eastern Washington, a state whose climate varies considerably from the perpetually mild weather of Southern California.
“What killed us the most was the first day,” junior Tiffany Lua said.
“The weather was really awful … there was a lot of wind. It was conditions that, living in L.A., we’re not exactly quite used to. So we just kind of had a difficult time minimizing our mistakes that day. I think that kind of killed us.”
The rainy weather had a clear effect on the Bruins, as they did not play up to their usual expectations.
UCLA ended the tournament in fourth place, four shots above first-place Cal. Lua nearly earned the individual champion spot, but ended up in second-place by one shot.
“It’s hard to say what the problem was,” said coach Carrie Forsyth. “We obviously didn’t play well. It was a very extreme condition the first day, and we did not deal with it well.”
Day one left UCLA in second place behind Arizona State, who led by five shots. On the second day of competition, the team shaved 14 shots off of the previous day’s score. The final day of the championship tournament ended with the Bruins’ worst finish this season.
“If nothing else, this experience up north kind of gave us a taste of what we might be experiencing when we go to regionals. For our team, if conditions are hard and the weather is bad, we’re going to be still one of the best teams able to deal with that,”Forsyth said.
All-conference honors
Five golfers have earned spots on the Pac-12 All-Conference Team, an honor that Forsyth has cultivated with many of her athletes at UCLA. Forsyth has had 22 golfers combine to earn 50 all-conference titles.
Lua, along with junior Lee Lopez and freshman Erynne Lee, was chosen for the all-conference first team; both Lua and Lopez have earned this honor before.
Sophomore Ani Gulugian was named to the second team, marking her second time earning this honor.
Senior Brianna Do, who landed a spot on the second team in 2010, was named an honorable mention.
Champions
Going to the national championship is an annual event for the top-ranked women’s golf team.
In the 13 years that Forsyth has coached the Bruins, she has led them to 11 straight appearances in the national championships, a record at UCLA.
Before the Bruins can return to their stomping grounds as the defending national champions, they must compete in the NCAA West Regional Championship on May 10-12.
Compiled by Taylor Aquino, Bruin Sports contributor.