The opportunity to play in a team-oriented event in golf does
not present itself very often. That’s why the No. 2 UCLA
women’s golf team is savoring every moment of competition in
the inaugural Hooters Women’s Collegiate Match Play
Championship at the Barefoot Resort along the Atlantic Ocean in
Myrtle Beach, S.C.
The Bruins, coming into the tournament seeded fourth in the
16-team field, are having a very strong showing in the unique
double-elimination match play event. The style of competition
emphasizes team strategy and forces coaches to play a game of
chess, pitting five players from each university against one
another.
UCLA made it through three of the four rounds before incurring
its first defeat at the hands of top-seeded Duke, losing 3-1-1.
Sophomore Susie Mathews captured the lone match-play win against
Duke, defeating Leigh Anne Hardin 2 and 1 (Mathews was 2 holes up
with 1 hole to play).
Mathews, who started her match on the 17th hole, was 2-down to
Hardin with six holes remaining. However, she made a stunning
recovery by winning four of the next five holes to seal the
match.
Junior and team leader Charlotte Mayorkas halved her match with
Duke’s Brittany Lang despite trailing for the majority of the
round. Lang jumped out of the gate quickly on Mayorkas and was 3-up
after six holes, but Mayorkas steadily chipped away at the lead,
eventually tying Lang on the 16th hole of the match.
Freshman Hannah Jun was faced with the difficult task of
competing against the 2003 U.S. Women’s Amateur Champion,
Virada Nirapathpongporn.
Although Jun got out to a quick 1-up lead after five holes, she
never led for the rest of the match, losing to Nirapathpongporn 3
and 2.
Senior Krystal Shearer, UCLA’s strongest competitor in the
first two rounds of the tournament, found herself in a battle with
Duke’s Anna Grzebien in a match that went the full 18 holes.
Although Shearer led for the majority of the match, she lost two of
the last three holes to Grzebien and succumbed to her Blue Devil
counterpart, 1-down.
Junior Yvonne Choe rounded out the Bruin squad, losing to
Elizabeth Janangelo 5 and 4.
In their two previous matches, UCLA defeated No. 13 North
Carolina, 3-2, and made quick work of No. 12 Texas, beating the
Longhorns, 4-1.