Arriving in an area that frequently experiences hail, heavy rain and cold winds would be a shock to the system of any college athlete, particularly one arriving from the seemingly perpetual sunshine of Los Angeles.
For three days the UCLA women’s golf team battled unfamiliar elements in Corvallis, Ore., but their efforts came up agonizingly short as they claimed a fourth-place finish in Pac-12 championships.
Despite maintaining the overall lead for the first two rounds, hopes of claiming their first victory in the competition since their three-peat between 2004 and 2006 were eventually ended as an overall score of 871 (+7) trailed winner Stanford by just two strokes.
“I was not too happy with the final day overall, as we dropped a lot of shots,” said coach Carrie Forsyth. “The weather was pretty awful and it could have gone our way, but in the end we didn’t play our best golf.”
While the No. 2 Bruins struggled on the third and final day, freshman Alison Lee successfully went on to claim her third individual victory of the year at 211 (-5), and became the first UCLA golfer since 2007 to win the conference title.
Lee has already earned her place on the 2014 U.S. Curtis Cup team, and an impressive final round of 69 (-3) as well as a three-shot victory will only further support her claim to the accolades of both Freshman of the Year and Player of the Year candidacy.
“Alison is definitely a leader by example,” said assistant coach Alicia Um-Holmes. “The team is happy for her and will look to her to be a leader in the upcoming NCAA competition.”
Junior Erynne Lee epitomized the overall UCLA team performance as she led the field after two days but then fell away as the competition reached its climax to end with a share of ninth position at 219 (+3).
A 298 (+10) round from the team as a whole on the third and final day saw UCLA relinquish its grip on first place and eventually fall a shot behind both USC and Arizona, as well as the eventual winner.
Sophomore Louise Ridderstrom had a solid weekend by carding a 217 to leave her at +1 overall for the competition.
The other UCLA starters, senior Ani Gulugian at 226 (+10) and freshman Bronte Law at 230 (+14), ended with shares of 32nd and 44th place respectively.
The Bruins now have 11 days to prepare for the NCAA Regional Championships that run from May 8-10 at the Colorado Nation Golf Club in Erie, Colo.
“We are definitely in contention,” Um-Holmes said. “There are positives to be taken from this performance we just need to clean up our short game and cut out the errors where we gave shots away.”
Compiled by Doug Gadsby, Bruin Sports contributor.