It doesn’t matter if you stumble across the finish line,
as long as you do it before anybody else.
For the women’s golf team, its third straight Pac-10
Championship in Oro Valley, Ariz., was not the smoothest of wins
but a conference title nonetheless.
The No. 2-ranked Bruins shot 13-over par Wednesday and finished
at 15-over on the tournament, beating Arizona State by a single
stroke.
Even after UCLA had completed the three-round tournament, there
was a Sun Devil golfer who had not finished and whose score would
decide the tournament.
“We thought we were tied,” UCLA coach Carrie Forsyth
said, “and we were getting ready for a playoff. It was a big
sigh of relief (when they announced the score).”
The squad headed into the day with an eight-stroke lead over ASU
but had its worst round of the tournament, while the Sun Devil
squad kept the pressure on.
“We had played two solid rounds,” Forsyth said,
“and we did not want to worry about the competition. We threw
away a lot of shots, but I don’t think it was nerves. We had
a couple of players that didn’t play well.”
The squad played three freshmen in the five-man lineup, but
intimidation was not a factor when paired with No. 3 ASU.
“We were pretty optimistic,” said Pac-10 Freshman of
the Year Tiffany Joh, “but we knew ASU was going to come out
firing.”
Heading into the final day, the squad tried to focus on each
individual shot and not worry about the competition, said sophomore
Amie Cochran, who earned second-team All-Pac-10 honors.
The talent of the young team was visible from the start, and
they knew anything less than a victory would be a
disappointment.
“We really wanted to win this tournament,” Forsyth
said. “We think we’re the best team in the conference,
if not the country.”
For Cochran, the thrill of being part of a champion team does
not get old.
“It’s always amazing winning tournaments,”
Cochran said. “It was really exciting knowing we had
three-peated.”
However, the team will not be content with only three in a
row.
“Next year, winning the Pac-10 will be amazing,”
Cochran said. “This just means that everyone will work harder
and make UCLA a dynasty.”
With the national NCAA tournament beginning in two weeks, the
squad knows it can improve.
“We still know that ASU is still out there
knocking,” Joh said. “We also know that we have some
work to do.”
“We’re pretty conscious of the fact that we need to
play better in the final round,” Forsyth said. “You
learn something whether you win or lose. You can never give up and
throw away shots. Every shot counts the same.”
Despite their play in the final round, the squad still managed
the “W,” something that speaks volumes about the
character of the relatively inexperienced team.
“Coming out on top ““ that’s what we play
for,” Forsyth said. “We’ll find a way to get it
done.”