The women’s golf team rebounded from 12th place and finished the Northrup Grumman Regional Challenge tied for fourth.
After an uncharacteristic second round, senior Erynne Lee bounced back with a strong performance finishing 4-under par recording five birdies in the process. Lee led the Bruins in the third round with her performance.
“The course is not easy and the greens were very tricky so it was pretty much a great challenge for everyone,” Lee said. “You just have to learn to forget and move on to the next round because at the end of the day we’re all grateful to be here and have a chance to compete, and that’s all that matters.”
Lee’s efforts certainly helped the team claw their way back toward the top of the standings, but it was sophomore Bronte Law whose consistent play kept the Bruins in contention.
Although Law finished the last round at even par, her performance throughout the tournament won her the individual title as she recorded 5-under par for the entire event.
The runner-up scored 3-under par.
“If she (Law) hadn’t been playing the way she was, we would’ve been out of the tournament,” said coach Carrie Forsyth. “The individual title was huge for her but it was also huge for us because it kept us in decent position, and obviously tying for fourth as a team isn’t something we wanted to do but we still had a winner in Bronte, and that was pretty nice.”
The rest of the team members had their best performances of the tournament in the last round with freshman Lydia Choi scoring -1, freshman Erin Choi scoring +2 and junior Louise Ridderstrom scoring +4.
The team’s improved efforts pushed it ahead by eight spots, and the members collectively recorded the best score in the final round with a -3.
The next best score in the final round was a +4, a seven-shot difference.
“I’m really proud of the team and the way they fought back because it shows resilience, and it shows that they were not the ones who were going to give in, and for us moving on, I think it’s a really good thing,” Law said.
The Bruins did not showcase a strong performance but can look forward to improving in the coming weeks. However, the team will have to improve fast as the team only has four tournaments left before the Pac-12 championships.
“(Coming back from the offseason) I think some of players were affected because when we started practice in January they didn’t look very sharp, and it is always a little challenging to start your season at Palos Verdes,” Forsyth said. “In all, it was a decent start for us and we know what we need to work on.”
The team will continue its season at the Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate Golf Championship Feb. 22.