OPELIKA, Ala. “”mdash; For over a year, their goal has never
wavered.
Taking each victory in stride, each loss as a humble lesson, and
each late- night practice as part of what’s necessary to
become a champion, the members of the No. 2 UCLA women’s golf
team never lost sight of the ultimate goal: to be in contention in
the final round of the NCAA Championships.
After three rounds on the Lake Course at Grand National in
Opelika, Ala., they’re in contention; the fruit of their hard
work having paid off.
Highlighted by another stellar effort from sophomore Susie
Mathews, UCLA continued inching its way up the leaderboard in
Thursday’s third round, posting a collective 2-under par team
total to move to 6-under par for the tournament.
The Bruins enter Friday’s final round with a five-shot
lead over No. 10 Oklahoma State. The Cowgirls rocketed up the
leaderboard in a hurry in the third round with a 6-under par team
total and, along with No. 1 Duke, pose the biggest threat to
dethrone UCLA. The three teams will be paired together this
afternoon in the final round.
“This is the fun part, this is what you practice
for,” UCLA coach Carrie Forsyth said. “You don’t
practice to come out here and be in last place. They’re
really giving their heart and soul out there to me and to each
other, it’s fun to watch and be a part of that. It should be
a hard-fought round Friday.”
Though it’s been a team effort to get into this position,
Mathews has propelled UCLA in the championship with the breakout
tournament of her young collegiate career.  Â
After carding a 3-under par 69 on Wednesday, the sophomore from
the land down under one-upped herself on Thursday, shooting a
4-under par 68, and grabbing a share of the lead with Oklahoma
State’s Karin Sjodin at 8-under par.
“I’ve played like this before, it’s just been
rough around the edges at times,” Mathews said.
“We’re going to have to go out and play really well
(today) if we want to take this title. But it’s nice to be up
rather than down.”
But everything wasn’t peaches and cream for Mathews, who
narrowly avoided disaster on the last two holes of her round.
On the par-3 8th hole with the pin tucked against Saugahatchee
Lake, Mathews’ ball had water written all over it. But her
ball drew to the left and caught the last square foot of green to
stay dry, drawing a big sigh of relief from her coach.
“That shot was a little too up close and personal for
me,” Forsyth said.
“When you finish a round, you want to finish
strongly,” Mathews added. “We’ve done enough in
the years losing shots due to silly things like lack of
concentration. I never doubted myself.”
Junior Charlotte Mayorkas continues to be plagued by a shaky
putter, but still mustered enough out of the rest of her game to
post a 1-under par 71 on Thursday. Mayorkas is 2-under par for the
tournament and tied for fourth place.
Now all that separates UCLA and its elusive goal are 18 holes of
golf.
But if there’s one lesson that golf has taught the Bruins
in their lives, it’s that anything can happen over 18 holes.
So while they won’t change their strategy or game plan going
into the final round, they’ll be some butterflies in their
stomachs.
“The worst thing we could do would be to change our
routines,” Mayorkas said.
“I’m sure the girls will go out and fight as hard as
they can,” Mathews added. “It’s something
we’ve been waiting for all year.”