Ask any member of the UCLA women’s golf team the secret to
sustaining long-term success in a sport as fickle as golf, and
there will be a definitive answer returned in unison.
Consistency.
But achieving that in a game as complex and intricate as golf,
where tournaments are as equally likely decided by a stroke of luck
than an individual’s skill, makes achieving consistency on
the golf course nearly impossible.
That’s what makes the goal of this year’s No. 2
Bruin team, to repeat as national champions, a difficult
accomplishment to fathom, yet a remarkable feat if
accomplished.
Coming off the heels of the program’s second NCAA
championship in 2004, UCLA has regrouped and reloaded for the 2005
season.
While thoughts of celebrating last season’s title run in
Opelika, Ala., last May still reside with many of the golfers, they
know that memories and visions of grandeur alone will not bring
them any closer to what they want to achieve this season.
“There’s no doubt that it was a great year last
year,” said senior Charlotte Mayorkas, the team’s No. 1
ranked player. “But it’s a new season. That chapter is
closed. We accomplished what we wanted to do, we got our ring. But
now we want another ring. We can’t live in the
past.”
But if the Bruins are to repeat, they’ll be counting on
the same cast of golfers who have already delivered them to the
promise land. The top three UCLA finishers from the NCAA
Championships last year, Mayorkas, junior Susie Mathews and
sophomore Hannah Jun, all return to a Bruin squad that is
considered even more potent and talented than last season’s
team.
Although the Bruins lost key components of their national title
run with the graduation of veterans Gina Umeck and Krystal Shearer,
UCLA coach Carrie Forsyth is welcoming a strong freshmen class to
Westwood, headlined by Amie Cochran, widely considered the No. 2
recruit in the nation.
The result is a roster full of golfers who only know what it
feels like to win, and who are surprised to see UCLA’s name
anywhere but at the top of the leaderboard.
“We’re in a lot of ways even better than we were
last year,” Jun said. “We have so much talent that
it’s unbelievable. We’re now accustomed to winning
every tournament we enter. Let’s just say that since
I’ve been here, I only know what it feels like to
win.”
With a championship already under their belt, it would appear
that being as motivated and as hungry as they were last year would
be a season-long problem for the Bruins.
For a team that had won six of its last seven tournaments en
route to securing a championship, there was little else UCLA could
do to display its dominance over the sport.
But the Bruins have already found plenty of reasons to come out
just as motivated this season.
For Mayorkas, who enjoyed one of the best seasons ever for a
UCLA women’s golfer, winning four individual titles last
year, the senior wants to end her Bruin career and jump into the
LPGA on the cusp of back-to-back championships.
For Cochran, it’s living up to the expectations of her
much-anticipated arrival in Westwood.
For Jun, it’s proving that last year was more than just a
fluke, that the Bruins were in fact a better team than vaunted No.
1 Duke.
“We’ve proved to everyone that we can do it, that we
have the best program in the nation, period,” Jun said.
“Last year, we were just on fire. That was unbelievable in
itself. This year is letting everyone know it wasn’t an
accident.”
But to gauge the collective mind-set of the team in its march to
Sunriver Resort in Oregon, site of the 2005 NCAA Championships,
look no further than the golfers’ reactions to UCLA’s
finish in it’s opening tournament.
The Bruins boasted four top-15 finishers in the tournament and
finished in second place, only losing to Pepperdine by two shots.
For most teams, that constitutes a successful tournament. UCLA is
not most teams.
“It was disappointing for us,” Jun said. “Four
of us finished in the top-15, usually that secures a first-place
finish. Second place for another team would be all right, but for
us, we’re not happy with it.”
While they will continue to take each tournament, each round and
each hole one shot at a time, the Bruins know that given their
success, their page in UCLA’s history book has already been
cemented. This season will determine if subsequent pages are to
follow.
“It would be unbelievable,” said Mayorkas of winning
the championship again. “We’d actually be beginning our
dynasty. Next year, with who we’re bringing in, the team is
going to be unbelievable. Our bar is just raising and
raising.”