From the season’s onset, UCLA women’s golf coach
Carrie Forsyth did not want to see her team revel in last
year’s team’s championship success.
For a second consecutive run at an NCAA title, Forsyth felt her
team needed to establish an identity of its own.
Tuesday was the first time she saw a glimpse of that identity
emerging.
Challenged down the back nine, the No. 2 Bruins withstood a late
charge from host school Arizona to capture the Arizona Wildcat
Invitational by a single stroke with a collective score of 12-over
par. More importantly, it’s the first tournament victory for
what Forsyth calls a new team.
“It’s an entirely new year,” Forsyth said.
“Our roster dynamic is totally different, and we can’t
celebrate what we did last season. We’re trying to find our
own identity this year, and this was the first time that I saw
that.”
Though this year’s team features some new additions, it
was a familiar face who paced the Bruins in Arizona.
With the outcome of the tournament still undecided entering the
event’s final hole, senior leader Charlotte Mayorkas, who was
playing in the final group, calmly sank her par putt to ensure the
one-shot victory. And for the second consecutive tournament,
Mayorkas led the Bruins with a second-place finish, shooting
3-under par over the three-round tournament.
Sophomore Hannah Jun was the other Bruin to finish in the
top-10, finishing in a tie for eighth place at 4-over par.
However, it might have been the play of redshirt senior Melissa
Martin that had the biggest impact for upcoming tournaments. In her
first start with the traveling squad this season by replacing
freshman Vanessa Brockett, Martin made the most of her opportunity,
finishing in an impressive 11th place with a three-round total of
5-over par.
For Forsyth, the ability to bring Martin into the lineup adds
poise and stability to an otherwise relatively young team. That
veteran presence proved vital, given the nature of Tuesday’s
final round.
While in a nip-and-tuck contest it’s typical of players to
begin watching the leaderboards, Forsyth saw none of that from her
team on Tuesday, to which she gives a large part of the credit for
taking home the title.
“It’s the reason we won,” Forsyth said.
“No one got ahead of themselves, no one worried about if we
were going to win. They just stayed focused.”