Sunny skies, crashing waves, towering palms, titanium woods and
steel irons ““ all present when the UCLA women’s golf
team invaded Hawaii, finishing second in the Kent Yeoul
Invitational held at picturesque Kapolei Golf Course last
Tuesday.
Two-time champions of the tournament in 1999 and 2000, the
Bruins were unable to repeat the feat in 2002. The squad shot a
combined score of 888 over three rounds of play, 18 shots behind
first place Cal. Yvonne Choe led the team with a score of 220 over
the three rounds, placing 6th overall in the tournament.
“Yvonne’s one of our top players,” coach
Carrie Leary said. “We depend on her to be consistently in
the low 70s.”
Junior Saki Uechi and freshman Susie Mathews also finished near
the top of the leaderboard, both shooting 222 and tying for 11th
place. Uechi led the Bruins with a blistering even-par 72 in the
final round.
“Saki should’ve shot a 68,” Leary said of
Uechi’s final round. “She hit the ball so well, and
more importantly, she finished the round well.”
UCLA’s Gina Umeck and Bridget Dwyer also had strong
showings, finishing with 224 and 234 respectively.
“The first day is hard with 36 holes,” Umeck said.
“A lot of times, mental fatigue sets in. But we were in a
really good mood because of the [Hawaiian] atmosphere. It took away
our inhibitions.”
The Bruins, walking into the tournament as the potential
favorite, fell victim to the Cal Bears who were not to be
outperformed.
“Berkeley ran away with it in the first round,”
Leary said of the Golden Bears. “They’ve been playing
really well. They’re the team to beat for us.”
The Bruins will now go into hibernation for the winter, with
their next tournament seemingly light years away on Feb. 3.
When they emerge again in the spring, the team will have high
expectations for itself.
The level of play Leary hopes to see is similar to that of
professional golfers. However, the Bruin golfers only have
themselves and the school name sewn on their golf bags driving them
to excel, rather than a nice fat paycheck awaiting them at the 18th
hole.
“I want this team to shoot 295 or better in a single
round,” Leary said. “If we can shoot at that level, we
can truly compete for a national championship.”