This post was updated April 2 at 10:19 p.m.
Blue and gold might be the Bruins’ colors.
But they return donning gold and silver.
No. 4 UCLA women’s golf finished in a three-way tie for second place with a score of 8-under 856 at the PING/ASU Invitational at the Papago Golf Course in Phoenix from Thursday to Saturday. Junior Zoe Antoinette Campos recorded her third individual win of the season with a score of 9-under 207 and also tied with New Mexico State’s Emma Bunch.
“I wanted to be steady, because I know previous years playing that course, it’s always been a grind,” Campos said. “And continuing to give myself opportunities for birdies, and I did so, which is great.”
UCLA finished behind No. 11 Northwestern, which it defeated by nine strokes earlier in the season at the Windy City Classic.
This time around, the Wildcats finished four strokes ahead of the Bruins, despite being tied after the first two rounds.
Coach Alicia Um Holmes said Northwestern’s resilience pushed it to success.
“At the end, they just dug deep,” Um Holmes said. “They got up and down when they needed to, made a couple clutch cuts, some good bounces here and there. We had some bad bounces. So, it was just their week.”
Senior Kate Villegas was the only other Bruin to finish in the top 10.
She carded a score of 3-under 213 to put her in a tie for ninth place. Her best round was on day two when she shot 3-under 69.
“The whole round, I felt really in the zone,” Villegas said. “I had my parents out watching me, so I felt really calm and at ease.”
In the final round of play, only two Bruins – Campos and redshirt junior Alessia Nobilio – recorded scores at or under par.
For Nobilio, this was her best round of the tournament with an even-72, pushing her up 16 places on the leaderboard – and into a tie for 59th place.
Um Holmes said the weather made the final day challenging, but it didn’t faze Nobilio.
“It was super windy out there,” Um Holmes said. “I was really happy to see Alessia have a good round after struggling the first couple. She just buckled down. She didn’t really let the wind bother her too much.”
The Bruins will return to action April 8 for the Chevron Silverado Showdown in Napa.
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