For the No. 2 women’s golf team, the NCAA Championships
this week at the Ohio State University Scarlet Course in Columbus,
Ohio is a chance to claim its second championship in three years
““ and No. 100 for UCLA.
However, after shooting a combined 13-over par on the first day
of competition to land in a four-way tie for ninth place, the
Bruins will need to step it up to bring home a championship.
“We did a lot of good things today,” coach Carrie
Forsyth said, “but we just didn’t execute well.
Mentally (the golfers) were solid, and they kept it together when
it could have been worse.”
The final four holes proved to be trouble for the Bruins, who
shot 10 bogeys or worse in that span.
Senior Susie Mathews in particular struggled, recording bogeys
or worse on her last four holes to go from 1-under to 5-over.
Mathews double-bogeyed the 15th hole, bogeyed the 16th and 17th,
and double-bogeyed the 18th.
Prior to the final four holes, Mathews was shooting 1-under
par.
To bounce back after a disappointing first day, the Bruins
cannot afford to shoot similar scores again.
“We’re going to have to play three solid rounds
around even par; then we can definitely still win,” Forsyth
said. “We can’t have another day like today.”
Freshman Tiffany Joh led the team at 1-under par and placed
third overall. Junior Hannah Jun finished with a 4-over par 76 to
tie for 44th place.
Mathews and freshman Jane Park tied for 70th place with 5-over
par 77, while sophomore Amie Cochran tied for 86th place overall
with 6-over par 78.
USC is leading the four-day, 72-hole tournament at 3-over, with
fellow Pac-10 schools Arizona and Arizona State at second and
fourth, respectively.
The Trojans shot 3-over par for the tournament, 10 strokes
better than the Bruins.
Perennial championship contender Duke finished the first day
tied for fifth at 9-over par.