Standing on the 17th hole of the final round of the Pac-10
Championships, UCLA women’s golf coach Carrie Forsyth thought
her team had the tournament well in hand. Having watched her
golfers tear up Ruby Hills Golf Club on the front nine and extend
their seven-shot lead, it was a very natural assumption. But with
no scoreboards posted anywhere on the Pleasanton course, Forsyth
was completely unaware of the drama unfolding behind her. “I
thought we had slam dunked it,” Forsyth said. “I
didn’t know how close it was.” The No. 3 Bruins did not
seize victory at the conference championship as much as they held
on to it on Wednesday, posting a collective team total of 10-over
par over three rounds to outlast Arizona State by four shots. It
marked the second consecutive year UCLA had cemented itself as the
Pac-10’s best team, and the first time since 1990-1991 that
the Bruins repeated as conference champions. Yet even though the
leaderboard confirmed that UCLA had in fact won its fourth
consecutive postseason tournament dating back to last year, Forsyth
and her Bruins didn’t necessarily feel like they played
anywhere close to their best golf to get there.
“There’s a thousand ways to win, and we found one of
them,” Forsyth said. “It was an adventure. “But
there’s a small part of frustration. Our best is the best,
and we haven’t got there yet. Nobody can beat us when
we’re at our best.” UCLA’s best looked to be on
full display Wednesday morning as the Bruins raced off the first
tee to a double-digit lead. Senior Charlotte Mayorkas posted five
birdies on her front nine en route to shooting 5-under par 31.
Junior Susie Mathews tallied four birdies of her own, carding a
2-under par 34 after nine holes. Sophomore Hannah Jun appeared to
put her tournament struggles behind her, posting an even-par 36 on
her opening nine. As the afternoon crept in, however, the Bruins
began to watch what started as a very promising round almost turn
into a very forgettable one. The birdie putts which fell into the
clown’s mouth on the front nine began to lip out. The
front-nine magic of Mayorkas and Jun was replaced with back-nine
frustration, as both shot 40 on their final nine holes of the
tournament. And what was once a comfortable double-digit lead
shrunk to a precarious two shots. And even though the Bruins
successfully fought off a late charge from the Sun Devils, it
wasn’t that they won, but how they won, that will give
Forsyth a lasting impression of the tournament. “There are
two times when it’s really tough out there. One of them is
when you start off badly. The other time is when you start off
really well,” said Forsyth, who was impressed with how her
team dealt with both forms of adversity at Ruby Hills. “When
we were only two shots ahead, everything tightened up a little bit.
But if there’s pressure involved, I will always take my
team.”
FRINGE FACTS: Both Mathews and Mayorkas finished in the top-10
among individuals. Mathews finished alone in second place with a
54-hole total of 7-under par, while Mayorkas finished in fifth
place at 2-under par. … UCLA’s team total of 7-over par on
Wednesday was its highest of the tournament. … For the second
consecutive year, Forsyth received the Pac-10 Coach of the Year
award, voted on by each of the conference’s coaches. …
Arizona State freshman Louise Stahle, who won the individual title,
captured both the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year and Pac-10 Player of
the Year awards. … Forsyth was a player on the last Bruin team to
repeat as conference champions back in 1990-1991.