Thursday, April 4, 1996
Despite showings, team still positive about championships
By Christopher Isidro
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Fourth place in a golf tournament is usually a stellar showing.
But for the UCLA women, it is the continuation of a downward
slide.
Against the best the West Coast has to offer, the No. 1 Bruins
took fourth at the Ping/Arizona State Invitational on March 29-31
in Tempe, Ariz, their worst finish of the season. After starting
off the year with four tournament victories, UCLA has come up empty
of late with three consecutive runner-up finishes preceding the
Ping Invitational.
"I think that (the expectations) got to them a little bit," UCLA
head coach Jackie Steinmann said. "They can’t rest on their
laurels."
The Sun Devils singed their home course and the rest of the
field with an 891 over three rounds, 14 strokes better than second
place Stanford. Their 1-under-par 287 in the final round supplied
the winning margin.
Second-ranked San Jose State, six strokes behind the Bruins
entering the final round, scored a 3-over-par 291 to edge UCLA for
third place by a single stroke. The Bruins, meanwhile, posted their
second consecutive round of 298 to finish up with 907 for the
tournament.
"There are some really good teams in the country, but San Jose
State has become a rival for us this season," Steinmann said. "It
has been them and us at the top of the rankings all season."
UCLA was led by senior captain Kathy Choi, who finished with a
4-over-par 220 for the tournament  good enough for third
place. Her final round of 70 was bettered only by Vinny Riviello’s
7-under 65 which propelled the Sun Devils to a tie atop the leader
board.
Three other Bruins finished among the top-30 in the 89-player
field. Jenny Park, who leads UCLA with a 73.5 stroke average,
followed up her even-par second round with a 76 to fall into a tie
for 11th place. Amandine Vincent came back from an opening round of
80 to finish tied for 23rd place, while Jeong Min-Park scored 233
and tied for 27th place.
Despite going winless in their last four events, the Bruins
still have a firm grip on the top of the national rankings and are
not worried about their recent showings.
"I was a little disappointed about our showing," Steinmann said.
"But a couple members of the team didn’t play up to their usual
selves. As a team, we didn’t play badly at all."
Next up for the Bruins are the Pacific-10 Championships in three
weeks followed by the NCAA Championships in La Quinta on Memorial
Day weekend.
"This is the best team I’ve ever had," said Steinmann, coach of
UCLA’s 1991 NCAA-winning squad. "If they play their best, we will
be the national champions."
* * *
The UCLA men’s golf team is in the midst of its busiest week of
the entire season. On Tuesday, they posted the third-best round of
the day to nearly close a 13-stroke gap with tournament-host and
winner UC Irvine and finished in second place at the Anteater
Invitational. They take a trip up the coast to Santa Cruz for the
Western Intercollegiate beginning on Saturday.
After struggling through their last four events where they
finished no better than eighth, the Bruins tied their best finish
of the season over the weekend with only their second sub-900
finish in five tournaments.
Their 898 was only two strokes more than the Anteaters, who
ballooned to 316 in the final round. But with the help of a 286 in
the opening round, UC Irvine fought off the late Bruin charge.
UCLA’s Mike Miller and Eric Lohman finished one-two atop the
leader board. Miller, who led the Bruins with a 74.76 stroke
average coming into the weekend, fired three sub-par rounds to
finish 4-under at 212, three strokes better than fellow senior
Lohman. Freshman B.J. Schlagenhauf tied for seventh with a 222 for
the tourney.
The strength of the Bruin top-three was unable to overcome the
weakness at the bottom of the lineup over the weekend. Trevor Arts
and Eddy Lee placed 96th and 100th respectively in a field of 101
finishers. Neither recorded a sub-80 round over the three-day
event.