It’s the reason they’ve answered 6 a.m. wake-up
calls for Monday practices all year long. It’s the reason
they’ve spent the better part of their time at UCLA
perfecting every aspect of their golf games. It’s the reason
that, up to now, they still have everything left to accomplish.
It’s been a long season, but for the No. 2 UCLA
women’s golf team, the reason is finally here, and the time
has finally come.
When the Bruins tee off this afternoon in the first round of the
2004 Women’s Golf Championships in Opelika, Ala. on the Lake
Course at Grand National, they’ll be playing for what they
set out to achieve from day one.
Four regular season tournament victories and a regional crown
are accolades worth boasting about, but the trophy case just
wouldn’t be the same without some national championship
hardware.
“I’ve been thinking about this since the last day of
nationals last year,” junior No. 1 starter Charlotte Mayorkas
said. “It’s been a long time.”
For Mayorkas and the rest of her teammates competing, Hannah
Jun, Susie Mathews, Krystal Shearer and Gina Umeck, the opportunity
has come to demonstrate that their dominance during the regular
season was no fluke, and that they can stand up to the toughest
field they’ll have competed against all year.
Coming into the 72-hole championship as arguably the hottest
team in the country with four consecutive tournament victories,
UCLA has adopted the strategy of downplaying the significance of
the event, trying to treat it as just another tournament. But the
players expect the mood and the atmosphere to change once the
starter announces their names this afternoon.
“It will be a little more intense,” Mayorkas said.
“We’ll get into our Bruin bubble and get focused on
what we need to do.”
What they need to do is solve the riddle that is Grand National,
a course that gave them fits back in September when the Bruins
competed in the Fall Preview. UCLA finished sixth in that
tournament, 20 shots back of first-place Duke, who coincidentally,
the Bruins are paired with in the first two rounds of the NCAA
Championships.
The 6,251-yard par-72 course won’t impose its length on
the field, but rather places a premium on accuracy and ball
striking, two strengths on this year’s Bruin squad.
“This course sets up really well for us,” coach
Carrie Forsyth said. “It’s a thinking-person’s
golf course. Trying to overpower this golf course is not the way to
play it.”
The Bruins’ success has largely been dependent on the
overall dominance of Mayorkas and the emergence of freshman Jun,
with both players currently ranked in the top 15 in the country,
according to Golfweek Magazine. But Forsyth believes the key to
walking away the winner in Alabama will be the strong play of the
other three Bruins, as the top four scores in each round count
toward the overall team score.
“I’m really happy with what we’ve seen in the
other three players right now,” Forsyth said. “I
believe with every ounce of my body that we’re going to play
well.”
And so the team will make one final trek together this season,
hoping that a year’s worth of hard work and perseverance will
translate into four quality rounds at the most crucial of times.
It’s the reason they’ve saved their best for last.
“It’s been a great season regardless of the result
this week,” Forsyth said. “But we’ll be
disappointed if we don’t win it.”