As the women’s golf team travels to Franklin, Tenn. to play its first tournament of the year this weekend, two names on its traveling roster look different.
Instead of relying on All-Americans Tiffany Joh and Maria Jose Uribe, the Bruins will turn to freshman Tiffany Lua and sophomore Brianna Do when they play at the Mason Rudolph Invitational at the Vanderbilt Legends Club this weekend. Joh graduated last spring, and Uribe turned professional.
“I think (Lua and Do are) going to do great,” coach Carrie Forsyth said. “I know they’re both really excited to be playing this week, and they’ve been playing really well in all our practices and qualifying rounds, and I’m really looking forward to seeing them out there and compete and do well.”
Coming off a summer of tournament play, Lua will play her first collegiate tournaments of her career. The freshman advanced to the 109th U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship semifinals before falling to USC’s Jennifer Song.
Do never made the team’s travel lineup last season, despite registering a solid match play score of 3-0-0 at the Collegiate Match Play Championship Nov. 2-4.
Sophomore Stephanie Kono will lead the Bruins this weekend, whose lineup also includes veterans in junior Glory Yang and senior Sydnee Michaels.
The stroke play medalist at the 2009 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship, Kono advanced to the third round of match play and quarterfinals at the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship. Michaels advanced to the quarterfinal round at Public Links, while Yang only played the first round after tying for 12th with Michaels in stroke play.
UCLA has been successful in Tennessee in recent years. The Bruins will look to win the Mason Rudolph Invitational for a third consecutive year. UCLA also placed 2nd in 2003 and 2004.
The Bruins also boast a defending medalist in Michaels, who recorded an 11-under 205 for the tournament. Last season, the Bruins totaled 850, registering a 14-under-par tournament record.
The field of competition is deep, with seven of the 17 teams playing in the tournament, including UCLA, Arizona State and USC, having been ranked in the Top-10 in Golfweek’s preseason poll.
“Everybody’s really fresh coming off the summer,” Forsyth said. “We’ve had a lot of success here, but the field is very strong. And we just want to go out and have a really good tournament and see how we do.”