The Bruins have been dethroned.
Following a season-worst, ninth-place finish at the Stanford Intercollegiate, No. 6 UCLA women’s golf has fallen from its previous top ranking.
“We took a loss this week to some (lower-ranked) teams, and that’s going to have an impact on our ranking,” said coach Carrie Forsyth. “At the end of the day, we’ve also got second place and a win, so it will all even out over time.”
Junior Mariel Galdiano is coming off a victory at the Stanford Intercollegiate – her second straight win of the season. After finishing the final round 10 strokes worse than her record-setting 62 for second round, Galdiano said she needs to work on maintaining consistency.
“I could really work on my mental game continuously,” Galdiano said. “It’s hard to follow a really good round. … But it would be nice to remain level and just play smarter golf.”
Junior Clare Legaspi has placed in the top 20 for two straight events after finishing 45th at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate, the Bruins’ first fall tournament. Legaspi held the lead after the first round of the Stanford Intercollegiate and said she will further prepare herself for high-pressure situations going forward.
“We have about two more weeks, so I’m trying to use that time to prepare even better for the next tournament,” Legaspi said.
Forsyth said sophomore Vera Markevich and freshman Phoebe Yue will remain in the lineup for the rest of fall after debuting at the Stanford Intercollegiate. Although both players finished in the bottom ten, Forsyth emphasized their willingness to improve.
“The putting by both of them was really bad in the first round (at Stanford), but both of them were more than eager to address it, and their hard work carried into the other rounds,” Forsyth said. “We’ll continue to get feedback as we go along about their strengths and weaknesses, and if they’re open to addressing them, they will get better.”
After earning a top-15 finish at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate, senior Beth Wu did not achieve similar success in the next two tournaments. Wu placed 40th and 56th at the Golfweek Conference Challenge and the Stanford Intercollegiate, respectively.
“(Wu’s) confidence is a little shaky, so we’ll maybe make some adjustments in terms of how she’s preparing,” Forsyth said. “She’s a great player, and we need her to be at her best.”
Forsyth said the entire team still has a long way to go before reaching its full potential.
“We have to keep working with everybody to raise their level of play, and that’s going to be something that happens through the fall,” Forsyth said. “It’s also something that we hope that they will do during the winter break because we’re going to need that much time.”
The Bruins will compete at the Nanea Pac-12 Preview from Nov. 5 to Nov. 7, their final tournament before play commences again in February.