For the UCLA women’s golf team, the NCAA season is more than two months away. For four Bruins, however, their break from golf is over.
Last week, from June 22 to June 27, four Bruins competed in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship in Devens, Mass. Sophomore Stephanie Kono, senior Sydnee Michaels, junior Glory Yang and freshman Tiffany Lua qualified for the match play bracket of the event held at the Red Tail Golf Club.
No Bruins, however, made it to Saturday’s finals.
The tournament began with two rounds of stroke play, and the top 64 scorers in the field qualify for match play. The players who go on receive seeding and play 18-hole matches, eliminating opponents until the 36-hole match in the finals.
In stroke play, the winner is decided by the fewest number of strokes taken to complete all the holes, while in match play, the winner is decided by the greatest number of holes completed in the fewest number of strokes.
For Kono and her teammates who usually play stroke play, match play is a welcome change.
“In stroke play, you’re playing against an entire field, whereas in match play, you’re playing against one opponent at a time,” Kono said. “It’s different, but I love match play. It’s a lot of fun. It’s really competitive.”
Kono earned medalist honors in stroke play with scores of 70-68 totaling 136 (-6) after two rounds and earning the No. 1 seed in match play. Michaels and Yang tied for 12th at 143 (-1). Lua registered 148 (+4) and made the cut by four strokes.
Of the Bruins, Michaels, who fell in the quarterfinals, advanced the furthest in the tournament but fell 1-up to Joanna Coe of Mays Landing, N.J.
Michaels and Coe were going into the 18th hole. After Coe made par, Michaels needed to make a chip shot to force a tie leading to additional holes. But Michaels missed, settling for bogey on par five and surrendering the victory to her opponent.
Kono defeated future teammate Lua by a match score of 2-1 in the second round but was eventually edged by one hole by Jisoo Park of Korea in the third.
Yang was eliminated by Sarah Brown, 2-1, of Lopatcong Township, N.J., in the first round.
NOTES: The match between Kono and Lua was a rematch of last year’s contest ““ flipped positions, same result. At last summer’s championship, Kono defeated 2008 stroke play medalist Lua in the first round.
Former Bruin Tiffany Joh won the championship last year and in 2006. Joh turned professional, making her ineligible to defend her title.