And this year? Well, the sixth-ranked player in the country brought Karsten Creek to its knees, tying the women’s course record of 7-under 65 set by Kent State’s Wad Phaewchimplee in 2014.
UCLA’s flight home from Lubbock, Texas, last May was mostly silent. The top-seeded Bruins had shockingly just failed to advance out of the NCAA Lubbock Regional, becoming the first No. 1 seed in NCAA Division I women’s golf history to miss out on the NCAA Championship as a top regional seed.
Many players, including Lilia Vu, who had just seen her player-of-the-year hopes dashed as well, didn’t pick up a club for a couple of days after that. They needed some time to heal.
“I was really depressed,” Vu said.
Said UCLA head coach Carrie Forsyth: “It was so tough for us to not be at the championship and have to suffer through that week and watch it on TV.”