PALO ALTO “”mdash; It seems like the weather is always vying to compete at women’s golf tournaments.
Heavy rain and thunderstorms forced last month’s Mason Rudolph Championship to cancel round two, and this weekend, thick fogs during the Stanford Intercollegiate at the Stanford University Golf Course delayed third-round play for an hour between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m.
“I think we started off a little bit slowly,” coach Carrie Forsyth said. “We did not play really well the beginning of the round. We had a couple bogies at the first three holes. I think (the fog delay) did have an effect on us … The first few holes probably cost us the win.”
Forsyth said before the tournament that she was worried the course would play long due to wetness and muddiness, but it turned out playable.
“It drained really well,” Forsyth said. “The staff did a great job to get it ready. The rough was really heavy though because they weren’t able to cut it, so that was what made it more difficult.”
Tallying 282 (-2) in the final round, the UCLA women’s golf team finished second this weekend only four strokes behind first-place Arizona State, who totaled 840 (-12) in the tournament.
“We had to have a really good round,” sophomore Stephanie Kono said. “We almost did it. We caught up to them halfway. They just pulled away at the end. But we had a good performance, and we were the only team to shoot under par today, so that was good.”
The Bruins and the Sun Devils were heads and shoulders above the rest of the field, as Vanderbilt with 862 (+10), Texas 864 (+12) and USC 873 (+21) round out the top five.
Going into the final round, UCLA trailed Arizona State by seven strokes, but the consistency of the Bruins helped make up for some of the deficit.
Four players, Kono, sophomore Brianna Do, senior Sydnee Michaels and freshman Tiffany Lua, finished tied for sixth at 212 (-1) apiece.
Junior Glory Yang finished tied for 21st totaling 216 (+3) in the tournament. Redshirt junior Lalita Boonnoppornkul, who competed as an individual, came in tied for 51st at 227 (+6).
USC’s Jennifer Song took the individual title with 205 (-8).