On their run to a championship last season, the members of the
UCLA women’s golf team used their season-opening tournament,
the Regional Challenge in nearby Palos Verdes, as a spring board to
their overwhelming success.
The Bruins will have to jumpstart their title run somewhere else
this year. The No. 2 UCLA women’s golf team lost a close
back-nine battle to No. 9 Pepperdine on Wednesday at Palos Verdes
Golf Club, finishing two shots behind the Waves and alone in second
place at a collective 46-over par.
Though the Bruins clung to a slim lead entering the pivotal
stretch in Wednesday’s third round, they simply
couldn’t hang on when they came across Palos Verdes’
very difficult back nine. Over the last nine holes, UCLA shot a
collective 10-over par, ceded a two-shot lead and the tournament
title to Pepperdine, who only shot 6-over par over the same stretch
of holes.
Wednesday marked the second consecutive day the scores
skyrocketed upward for UCLA and the rest of 15-team field. After
firing a first round 5-over par Monday to grab the early lead, the
Bruins came back with scores of 20-and 21-over par respectively to
finish their tournament.
While UCLA’s collective score increased round-by-round,
Bruin senior leader Charlotte Mayorkas used the last two days to
regain her form and permanent spot towards the top of the
leaderboard. Shooting an atypical 74 in her first round, Mayorkas
came back strong over the last two rounds as most of the rest of
the field struggled, shooting 71 and 72 respectively to finish the
tournament at 4-over par and alone in second place.
Though Mayorkas was able to navigate her way through the course
unscathed, her Bruin teammates did not enjoy a similar fortune.
After Mayorkas’ 72, the next lowest Bruin score was posted by
junior Susie Mathews, who carded her second consecutive 5-over par
76. However, the score was still good enough for Mathews to post a
top-10 finish, shooting 9-over par and landing in a tie for
sixth.
Meanwhile, Palos Verdes Golf Club proved to be a stiff challenge
for UCLA’s two heralded freshmen, Amie Cochran and Vanessa
Brockett. Competing in their first spring tournament, the freshmen
duo’s young Bruin careers got off to shaky starts, with
Cochran finishing in a tie for 48th (22-over par) and Brockett a
tie for 55th (23-over par).