On day two of the women’s golf NCAA Championships, the No. 2 Bruins seized the lead of the tournament, holding a seven-stroke advantage over second-place USC.
UCLA recorded 293 (+5) on the day, totaling 589 (+13) in the first two rounds. The defending champion the No. 3 Trojans shot a 295 (+7) team score in the second round. First-round leader No. 14 Denver fell to third after Wednesday’s 304 (+16) performance, but the Pioneers remain only two strokes behind the Trojans in the tournament. After registering 298 (+10) Wednesday, top-ranked Arizona State is tied at fourth with No. 5 Oklahoma State and No. 10 North Carolina with team scores of 600 (+24).
The Bruins are led by sophomore Maria Jose Uribe, who currently sits at the top spot in the individual tournament with a score of 141 (-3). She fired a 66 (-6) in Wednesday’s round, which included five birdies, an eagle and a bogey on the ninth hole.
“She played really well,” coach Carrie Forsyth said. “(She) hit the ball really well, made a lot of putts. Overall, just really solid, as good as I’ve seen her play.”
However, Uribe’s teammates had a little more trouble on the course.
Both freshman Stephanie Kono and senior Tiffany Joh finished Wednesday’s round with a 76 (+4). Kono, who led the Bruins on Monday, fell from tying in seventh place to tying for 16th, recording 149 (+5) in the tournament. Only one stroke behind Kono in the tournament, Joh also saw a drop in the leaderboard from tying in 12th to tying in 20th with teammate junior Sydnee Michaels. Sophomore Glory Yang, who shot UCLA’s highest score of the day with 78 (+6), is tied for 37th at 152 (+8) in the tournament.
“Everybody else on the team struggled a little bit today,” Forsyth said. “They kept it together. It wasn’t like anybody let it get away from them, but it was a little bit of a struggle for everybody ““ maybe just being a little too tentative, trying a little too hard to hit the fairway. We’re just going to try to relax tomorrow, just pick good targets.”
Golfweek.com reported that the average score for the first round was 77.92.
Forsyth said that the team still felt good about its performance.
“I know we all believe that as a team, we can play better than today,” Forsyth said. “We’re going to go out tomorrow, hopefully have a little bit different perspective of this golf course ““ we’ve played it almost four times now ““ and just try to relax a little bit more, just free swing it.”
The third round begins today as tournament play continues. Friday’s fourth and final round will conclude the NCAA Championships.