According to All-American senior Tiffany Joh, the press from Golfweek or Golfworld always refers to the UCLA women’s golf team as “the loudest team” or “the team that has the most fun in tournaments.”
They certainly can talk the talk, but can they walk the walk?
For starters, the Bruins are ranked No. 1 in the country. They have played three tournaments already, including the Topy Cup in Japan, the Mason Rudolph Invitational in Nashville, Tenn., and most recently, the Stanford Intercollegiate.
And they’ve won every single one of them.
“That just proves that when we go out there, we want to play well, but at the same time, we want to have a good time, so it makes (playing well) easier,” Joh said.
Coach Carrie Forsyth, in her 10th season leading the Bruins, said that the chemistry on the team is great.
“The girls are really supportive of each other,” Forsyth said. “They feel good about each other as a team, they put in a lot of time, they do a lot of stuff outside of golf together, which is nice. There’s a lot of friendship involved in our program.”
Forsyth said that despite winning their tournaments, the Bruins must work to avoid complacency.
“Our main goal is to keep getting better,” Forsyth said. “We can’t just sit back ““ we have to, every day, get better and work on getting better. As long as we pass goal No. 1, we go into every tournament feeling and believing we can win. We may not always win every event, but we can go into every tournament being prepared and ready to play and do our best.”
This season, the UCLA women’s golf team added two top recruits in Brianna Do and Stephanie Kono from what Forsyth calls “probably one of the strongest freshman classes in the country.”
While Do has not played in the team lineup at tournaments yet, she has competed individually. Forsyth said that she adds a lot of depth to the team.
“She’s a really solid player,” Forsyth said. “I believe that she’s going to develop along now that she’s here and continue to break into the lineup and contribute more and more.”
On the other hand, Kono, a freshman from Honolulu, Hawaii, has had an immediate impact in terms of the lineup.
“She added a sense of security to the lineup,” Forsyth said. “They players have a lot of belief in her. And when she’s out there, you always feel like she’s a key member, and that’s nice for me and the rest of the team.
In addition to the new recruits, this season, the Bruins return all players from last year’s team, who have been collecting individual accolades of their own.
Nobody can talk about the UCLA women’s golf team without mentioning Joh. Last season, she led the team in scoring average (71.8), top 10 finishes (10), rounds under par (15), rounds under 70 (6), and counter percentage (97 percent). She also won her second U.S. Women’s Amateur Publinks Title in three years.
“It’s pretty incredible,” Forsyth said. “Maybe you win it the first time, you feel like “˜maybe I got lucky,’ but if you do it twice you know you’re a pretty darn good player. There’s been a handful of people in history that have ever done anything like that in a USGA event. She’s knocked it off as a freshman, and to win it twice, she’s solidified herself.”
After the season had begun, Joh had to compete against Bruin teammate sophomore Maria Jose Uribe in the World Amateur Team Championship in Adelaide, Australia, with Joh representing USA and Uribe playing for her native country Colombia.
Joh said that the experience was actually really fun.
“During the round, we’d obviously be playing against each other, but afterwards I’d go hang out in her hotel room with the entire Colombian team,” Joh said. “When we’re out there, obviously I wanted the U.S. to play well. At the same time I was cheering for (Uribe) as an individual.”
Also an All-American, Uribe won the 107th U.S. Women’s Amateur title at Crokked Stick Golf Course in Carmel, Ind. during the summer of 2007.
Two more Bruins captured individual tournament titles this season.
Sophomore Glory Yang won her first collegiate tournament title at the Topy Cup in Japan. Forsyth said that Yang was not able to practice as much as she wanted having to return home to Seoul, South Korea for a period time over the summer.
“She went into that tournament with no real expectation,” Forsyth said. “(Her victory) was sort of a testament to her ability. Her game has been real consistent; she can stay and able to play well in spite of the obstacles.”
Joh said that Yang’s win was huge for her confidence.
While Yang won the Bruins’ first tournament, UCLA produced another individual champion in its next event when junior Sydnee Michaels captured the title in the Mason Rudolph Invitational, hosted by Vanderbilt.
“That’s a really big win,” Forsyth said.
The victory was Michaels’ second collegiate win. She won the NCAA East Regional in 2007 as a freshman but was not able to accomplish a similar feat until this season.
“Her freshman year was a little bit all over the place,” Forsyth said. “This year she’s come in with more purpose. She’s been a lot more focused. It’s really nice for her to get a reward for the nice efforts she put into her game.”
Joh admitted to crying tears of joy when Michaels won in Nashville.
“She worked really hard in the last couple years, and I’m glad it’s finally coming together,” Joh said. “I was just really proud because of the journey that (Michaels) and I have been together on.”
With talented recruits and notable veterans on the team, the UCLA women’s golf team looks poised to contend for the Pac-10 Championship and ultimately, the NCAA Championship.
“This year, everyone’s playing so well,” Joh said. “Last year, I felt that there was a little bit of pressure to perform. Now, I’m never the best one out there. I do kind of appreciate now what a big role the third, fourth and fifth player have on the team. You can’t just let No. 1 and 2 carry you.”
Last season, the Bruins finished second at the NCAA Championship, surrendering the title to USC. They will play the three-day Collegiate Match Play Championship at the Ginn Resort in Orlando, Fla. next week.
“I think at this point, we’re not thinking about the end of the year yet,” Joh said. “Obviously it doesn’t matter how many tournaments we win during the year ““ it’s all about nationals. So for now we’re just trying to take it one tournament at a time; so right now we’re trying to win the next one, which is Florida.”