The promise and anticipation of kicking off the 2004 season have
the UCLA women’s golf team licking its chops. Then again,
anything is better than the nightmarish conclusion to the 2003
season that still lingers in the minds of many players and coach
Carrie Forsyth.
It’s been nearly nine months since last year’s
up-and-down season came to a halt, somewhere on a golf course in
Lafayette, Ind. On that day, the Bruins placed a distant fifth at
the NCAA Championships, finishing 19 shots behind first place. To
make matters worse, the first-place finisher was crosstown rival
USC.
“We were mad and frustrated with ourselves,” Forsyth
said. “Everyone that was there left with a sour taste in
their mouths. We are determined not to let that happen
again.”
The upcoming season holds a much brighter outlook. Returning all
of its starters and currently boasting seven of the top 100 players
in the country according to GolfWeek Magazine’s rankings,
this team appears ready to make a serious run at a national
championship.Â
Now all the Bruins have to do is win something.Â
Despite its No. 2 ranking, UCLA has yet to win a tournament this
year. Combined with its winless season last year, this constitutes
a significant drought.
Winning breeds winning, and before the Bruins take to Grand
National Golf Course in Auburn, Ala. this May for the NCAA
Championships, the players and coaches agree they need to win a
tournament first.
“We’ve been bridesmaids a couple of times,”
Forsyth said. “I’m not overly concerned that we
haven’t won yet, but we want to go into nationals completely
prepared. And to be prepared, you need to know how to win, and
you have to prove that.”
While Forsyth describes last year’s season as mediocre,
the one highlight of the 2003 campaign was the play of junior
Charlotte Mayorkas.
Mayorkas, the quiet leader on the team, is currently ranked No.
9 in the country. She is looking to build upon last year’s
stellar season, in which she earned her first collegiate individual
victory. But her vision isn’t clouded with predictions about
how her team will fare come May. Rather, Mayorkas is solely focused
on her next round and her next shot.
“I’m just looking forward to starting the
season,” said Mayorkas, who will take her team-leading 72.8
stroke average to Palos Verdes this week for the first tournament
of the winter season.
“Every team needs a leader, and playing in the No. 1 spot
puts you in that leadership role. But I’m just trying to stay
focused and not worry about the outside commotion.”
Joining Mayorkas as a Bruin on the upswing is sophomore Susie
Mathews, who recently made her debut in the individual top-25
rankings. At times last year it was Mayorkas leading the way and
the rest of the Bruins lagging behind, but the emergence of Mathews
as the No. 2 caliber player UCLA is craving should make for a more
balanced scoring effort this season.
“She just loves to play, loves to compete, and practices
all the time,” Forsyth said. “(Mathews) is ranked
in the top 25, but that’s a weak ranking. I think
she’s somewhere in the top 10.” Â
While the remaining players from last year’s roster have
all improved their games, it’s a new face that could push the
Bruins over the brink to the top of the collegiate golf world.
Highly touted freshman Hannah Jun of Torrey Pines has already made
a big impact in her first year with UCLA.
In the Mason Rudolph Tournament back in September, one of her
first events as a Bruin, Jun shot a five-under-par 67, falling one
shot shy of tying Mayorkas’ school record of 66. These
flashes of brilliance promise to come frequently from the Southern
California star who led her high school team to three CIF
championships.
“Hannah looks so solid out of the break,” Forsyth
said. “She worked on the things she needed to change, and
she’s going to have an exceptional spring.”
The 2004 season promises to be a fun one, and if this UCLA team
is going to achieve the success that Forsyth envisions, it needs to
jump out of the gates fast and start building momentum toward
reaching Alabama, starting with this week.
“You have to pick up that momentum going into nationals
quickly,” Mayorkas said. “Yes, we’re No. 2 and we
want to be No. 1, but rankings aren’t that important. We
just have to focus on the next round.”