As freshman Amie Cochran finished up her first of two scheduled
rounds on Tuesday of the Spartan Invitational in San Jose, she was
flummoxed.
Not only had she just shot an opening-round 76, she had hurt her
shoulder during the course of the round.
“She wasn’t happy,” UCLA women’s golf
coach Carrie Forsyth said. “Her attitude was not the
greatest.”
Yet instead of having her frustrations boil over into her next
18 holes that afternoon, the freshman rallied.
Cochran posted a tournament-low 5-under par 66 to give UCLA the
lead, of which the Bruins refused to let go Wednesday afternoon en
route to winning their second straight tournament.
The second-ranked Bruins shot a collective 5-over par in the
third and final round to finish the 54-hole tournament at 16-over
par, two shots clear of second-place Washington.
And Forsyth pointed to Cochran’s turnaround as the main
reason why UCLA emerged victorious.
As the freshman was set to begin her second round on Tuesday,
flustered and in pain, she stepped up to the tee determined to
improve her first-round performance.
Cochran then sent her first shot into the hazard, prompting
Forsyth to consult her prized freshman.
“Her head was down, she was holding her shoulder, and I
told her not to give her competitors that advantage,” Forsyth
said. “If you complain about it and don’t focus on what
you’re doing, it’s going to be difficult to play. She
could have continued to be frustrated, but luckily she
didn’t.”
Scrambling to make a bogey on her opening hole, Cochran
immediately responded with a birdie on the next. She was far from
done, however, recording five birdies on her back nine to help move
UCLA, in fifth place after the first round, to the top of the
leader board entering Wednesday’s final round.
While Cochran carried the Bruins on Tuesday, junior Susie
Mathews paced UCLA on Wednesday with a tournament-best final round
3-under par 68, helping to ensure a two-shot victory for her team.
Mathews was the Bruins’ highest finisher, recording a third
place finish at even-par.
Though Forsyth conceded her team is nowhere close to playing its
best golf, she does revel in the fact that in her team’s two
victories, the Bruins have had to scratch and claw their way to the
title.
“What’s been really good is that the two wins
we’ve had are really close,” Forsyth said. “It
also keeps us humbled. When you blow people out, you feel
you’re head and shoulders better than everybody. We’re
hoping when we get to nationals, we will blow teams out.”