Senior Charlotte Mayorkas double-bogeyed two of the first three
holes she played Tuesday to open up her second round at the Pac-10
Championships.
Freshman Amie Cochran double-bogeyed her second hole of the
day.
Susie Mathews, Hannah Jun and Melissa Martin did not
collectively record a birdie until the 11th hole.
To say it was an inauspicious start for everyone on the UCLA
women’s golf team would be an understatement, as the Bruins
temporarily fell to third place in the middle of the round after
leading the field to begin the day.
Yet as quickly as they let the lead fizzle away, they seized it
right back.
Behind Mayorkas’ monstrous comeback, UCLA (3-over par)
turned a three-shot deficit into a comfortable seven-shot lead by
the end of the second round, placing itself in prime position to
claim its second consecutive conference title today at Ruby Hills
Golf Club in Pleasanton.
Such a scenario, however, did not look that promising Tuesday
morning.
“We made the turn and we were obviously struggling as a
team pretty badly on the front nine,” UCLA coach Carrie
Forsyth said. “We had some bad breaks. I don’t know for
whatever reason, but it took some time to settle down.”
Having slipped behind USC and Arizona State and seen their
collective team total run up to 13-over par, the Bruins were in
need of a spark, which Mayorkas more than happily supplied.
After being 4-over par for her second round after just three
holes, the senior team leader reeled off an astounding seven
birdies in her next 13 holes without yielding a shot back to the
course.
“You get two doubles on your card, and you wonder, what
happened there?” Forsyth said. “But she remained
composed the whole time, and it was great to finally see a glimpse
of that, to see the fire back in her eyes.”
“I was a little out of focus,” Mayorkas said.
“It was just a random round. But I think it’s easier to
come back from adversity because you’re really
mad.”
Though Mayorkas was quick to point out that her round could have
been better if she hadn’t bogeyed the 18th hole, her
improbable 2-under par 70 was still the best round recorded by a
Bruin on that day.
But Mayorkas wasn’t the only one to stage an impressive
comeback for UCLA. Mathews, who had surrendered three shots to Ruby
Hills and had traversed down the leaderboard after nine holes,
carded four birdies on the back nine to get back into red figures
with a 1-under par 71, tying her for second place overall at
5-under par.
While the Bruins are exactly where they expected to be after two
rounds of the conference championship, the way they got there
speaks volumes about the team’s mindset to Forsyth.
“At some point (Tuesday), the mental challenge was
great,” Forsyth said. “I feel like even though
Charlotte shot 70 and Susie shot 71, those rounds were in my mind
comparable to shooting 65 or 66. To come back like that is
awesome.
“Now we just have to come back tomorrow and play like we
should. We know leads can be eaten up pretty quickly if we’re
not prepared.”