Rising senior Tiffany Lua withdrew from the competition early because of a wrist injury.
While most athletes participate in unrecorded scrimmages or training camps during the offseason, the UCLA women’s golf team keeps sharp by playing in competitive national tournaments.
Last week, four UCLA players participated in the 112th U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship, hosted by the United States Golf Association in Cleveland, Ohio.
Rising sophomore Erynne Lee, rising junior Ani Gulugian and rising seniors Tiffany Lua and Lee Lopez traveled to Cleveland to vie for one of the more storied titles in golf history.
“It’s one of the biggest tournaments because it’s run by the USGA,” Lee said.
“It’s everybody’s goal “¦ to win this tournament because it holds a great, huge history; a lot of the great players on tour have won the tournament.”
Initiated in 1895, this annual event is one of the three original championships held by the USGA. The featured trophy was donated by Robert Cox, a member of the British Parliament, in 1896, and it is the only USGA trophy to be gifted from a person outside of the United States.
This initial group of golfers completed two days of stroke play to narrow the pool down to 64. These golfers were then grouped for match play, where the competition proceeds according to seeding.
“You do well in stroke play to have obviously a higher seeding, to essentially have an easier opponent for your first match,” Lua said, “But for the most part, that kind of just gets erased and you play head-to-head matches from there on out.”
Lua withdrew from the tournament on day one of the competition because of a wrist injury. She decided to rest because she will begin the qualifying school for the Ladies Professional Golf Association tour. In order to obtain professional status, golfers must complete this three-stage process.
“(The championship is) just really prestigious, and it’s actually one of my favorite tournaments, so I was really bummed that I couldn’t play,” Lua said.
Gulugian advanced to day three of the competition before an unsuccessful attempt to overcome her match play competitor. Lopez made it to the third round of match play before she was overwhelmed by her seeded match. Lee made it to the quarterfinals, a position she’s been in for the past two years at this tournament. She had hoped to go further this year.
“It’s a big national championship and I’ve done well the past couple of years,” Lee said prior to her elimination. “It’s something I look forward to every year, and hopefully I can make it to the finals and win. I really want to win the tournament at least once before I turn pro.”
Lee was eliminated by 16-year-old Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand, one of the international competitors that the championship attracts.
“This tournament itself has a very high intensity level with so many great players out here and I can play well, and play my own game, and work hard to achieve certain goals throughout the summer before coming back to school,” Lee said.
Compiled by Taylor Aquino, Bruin Sports contributor.