The Bruins will be making their 30th appearance at the NCAA regionals.
No. 14 UCLA women’s golf claimed the No. 4 overall seed and will be heading to East Lansing, Michigan, for the NCAA East Lansing Regional. Accompanying them will be No. 4 Stanford, No. 7 Arizona and No. 19 Michigan State, among others. The last year UCLA women’s golf won an NCAA title was in 2011, with a score of 1,173.
Coach Carrie Forsyth – who led the Bruins to a pair of NCAA Championships in 2004 and 2011 – will be finishing her 20th season at the helm.
Senior Beth Wu said she feels nostalgic heading into her last tournament for the Bruins.
“It’s a bittersweet feeling,” Wu said. “I am definitely going to miss college golf, but I feel ready to take the next steps to a professional career. In the summer, after the season ends, I’ll be going to qualifying schools (to get) my LPGA card.”
As the lone senior on UCLA’s roster, Wu said she doesn’t feel any differences between age groups, but rather that the team as a whole is working together to prepare for regionals.
“There really isn’t a discrepancy between ages on the team, we work together and follow what coach Forsyth and (assistant coach) Alicia (Um Holmes) have to say,” Wu said. “As a team, we need to work on specific (details) individually and technical skills in order to get through regionals.”
The Bruins placed second in their regional last year with a 4-under 860 at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, finishing four strokes behind Stanford. Then-freshman Patty Tavatanakit came in first and then-sophomore Mariel Galdiano tied for third.
The Bruins will play at Forest Akers West Golf Course in Michigan for the NCAA regionals from Monday to Wednesday.