Coming off a disappointing third-place finish at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge last week, the No.3 UCLA women’s golf team will look to bounce back this week when it travels to Sonora, Mexico, to play in the Wildcat Invitational at the Peninsula Golf Club.
Coach Carrie Forsyth said that the course is a Jack Nicklaus-designed, links-style golf course. Although the course is littered with bunkers, it is more wide open and has flatter greens than the course at the Palos Verdes Golf Club, the site of the Regional Challenge. Because of its coastal location, the course at the Peninsula Golf Club tends to get windy.
“The golf course is set up to be more open, a lot more forgiving than Palos Verdes in terms of design,” Forsyth said. “(But) the biggest factor is dealing with the wind.”
Although none of the Bruins have played at the Peninsula Golf Club before, sophomore Maria Jose Uribe, a Columbian native, said that she has Mexican and Columbian friends that have told her about the course.
“(They) tell me it’s a beautiful course,” Uribe said. “It’s right on the ocean, so it’ll give us a really good view (to) enjoy. It’ll be a good week for us.”
Forsyth said that the fact that the team has never seen the golf course is one of the biggest challenges to overcome this week. “We’re trying to anticipate as we prepare for (the tournament),” Forsyth said. “When you’ve never seen a golf course, you don’t know what to be working on or what to expect.”
The Bruins will also have to deal with travel weariness.
“We’re going to Mexico, so obviously we’re going to be a little tired,” senior Tiffany Joh said. “We’re flying into Tucson, then taking a charter bus for three and a half hours down to Mexico, so fatigue factor can play a role.”
Based on the Bruins’ performances in the last tournament, UCLA will feature a lineup of senior Ryann O’Toole, Joh, freshman Stephanie Kono, Uribe, and sophomore Glory Yang.
At the Regional Challenge, O’Toole played as an individual competitor and was not included in the team lineup. Finishing in fourth place, the senior co-captain led all UCLA scores.
The field these golfers will face includes No. 2 USC and No. 1 Arizona State, who won the Regional Challenge last week.
“We kind of got a glimpse of how good they can be at Palos Verdes,” Joh said. “Now that we know, it will give us a better idea of how well we need to play.”