For the UCLA women’s golf team, anything short of a first-place finish is a letdown. Since their last victory at the Regional Challenge in February this season, the Bruins have been disappointed after every tournament, hoping their next one would end with a win.
This weekend, their prayers were finally answered.
From the opening tee-off, the Bruins seized the lead at the NCAA Central Regional held at the University of Texas Golf Club and never looked back, separating themselves from the second-place team with each round. Led by freshman Maria Jose Uribe, who tied for first place honors after carding an 8-under par 208, UCLA brought a win back to Westwood with a 3-under par total score of 861.
No. 6 Purdue finished second, 10 strokes behind UCLA with 871, followed by Denver, which recorded 882 after three rounds. Purdue’s Maria Hernandez was tied for first with Uribe.
Two other players had top-10 finishes for the Bruins: All-American junior Tiffany Joh placed fourth with a 5-under 211, and junior Maiya Tanaka’s 2-over 218 landed her a tie for 10th place, her first collegiate top-10 finish.
“I think it was an especially big confidence boost for Maria, who played really well, and for Maiya, who got her top-10 finish, and that’s a great place to do it at. We’re all really proud of them; it’s just what we need going into nationals,” Joh said of her teammates.
Coach Carrie Forsyth praised her team’s focus and mental toughness in the tournament.
“Maria played really solid today,” she said. “I was pretty impressed because she was one shot back from the lead and she made a birdie on (hole) 17 and (finished) tied in first place. It was really great. Maria played exceptionally well.”
This is UCLA’s fourth victory of the season and its fourth regional title under Forysth.
She felt that performance was the game changer in this tournament, compared to the disappointing finishes in the previous three tournaments.
“The biggest difference is that this time we absolutely executed the game of golf well ““ they hit the ball well, they putted well, they chipped well ““ whereas the last few events, they just haven’t played as well,” Forsyth said. “We haven’t been as sharp, and this time everybody just looked like they were ready to play, and I think that made a difference.
“Overall (it’s) just the little things ““ little, small improvements in their putting, little, small improvements in their chipping and their long game ““ we’ve adapted to a lot of shots in three rounds and with five players.”
This type of execution is best explained by Uribe’s opening round. She torched the golf course with five birdies, an eagle and no bogeys, demolishing the women’s competitive course record by four strokes with a 7-under 65.
Joh credited the team’s focus and confidence despite playing a three-day tournament in the sweltering Texan heat that reached the upper 90s that allowed UCLA to capture the title.
“We work hard all the time; it’s not a big difference in our work ethic. Things just fell into place. I think our energy in this tournament was really good. I think we had a really good positive attitude out there. Other than that, there wasn’t a huge difference in terms of how much time we put in it,” Joh said.
The Bruins will have to maintain this vigilance to repeat the same result at the upcoming NCAA championship tournament.
“The thing about nationals is that it’s a four-day tournament. Patience is always an area for improvement, especially when you have a really young team. Nationals is really not a sprint; it’s like a marathon. It’s the longest tournament we play. We’re out there for a week. I think that our formula so far seems all right, so I think we’ll just keep at that,” Joh said.
The top eight teams from each of the Central, West and East regions will advance to compete in the national tournament held at the University of New Mexico Championship Golf Course in Albuquerque, N.M., on May 20-23. No. 1 USC won the West Regional, and No. 4 Florida defeated No. 3 Duke to win the East Regional.
“The long season that we have ““ we’re going to have ups and downs, so it’s nice to know that right now, when it’s the most important time, people are executing their shots well, playing well, and that’s what you have to have at nationals,” Forsyth said.