Bruins Sweep Pac-12 Women’s Golf Honors
A trio of UCLA Bruins were tabbed with postseason awards, the Pac-12 announced today. Junior Lilia Vu was named the Pac-12 Women’s Golfer of the Year, while her teammate Patty Tavatanakit was selected as the Pac-12 Women’s Golf Freshman of the Year. Bruins head coach Carrie Forsyth was named as the Pac-12 Women’s Golf Coach of the Year. In addition to these awards, the Pac-12 Women’s Golf All-Conference Team is also listed below as previously announced on April 24.
Vu, a native of Diamond Bar, Calif., produced a stellar season for the Bruins while winning Pac-12 Golfer of the Month honors three times, and being selected by PING as the WGCA Player of the Year. She is only the second Bruin to receive this award. On the season, Vu posted the lowest full-season scoring average in UCLA program history with a 70.37. Additionally, Vu collected four victories on the season and finished in the Top 10 on nine occasions.
Tavatanakit, who hails from Bangkok, Thailand, joined fellow teammate Lilia Vu as a WGCA First-Team All-American and was tabbed the WGCA Freshman of the Year. Tavatanakit’s dominant freshman campaign produced four wins on the year, which set the record for wins by a UCLA freshman, and tied the overall single-season record for the program. Additionally, she was named Pac-12 Women’s Golfer of the Month for April following her dramatic victory over Vu in a one-hole playoff at the Pac-12 Championships.
Coach Forsyth earns her sixth Pac-12 Coach of the Year honor, having also been selected in 2002, 2004, 2005, 2011, and 2012. Forsyth is the Pac-12 women’s golf leader in Coach of the Year honors. Since the inception of the award, only one other UCLA women’s golf coach has been selected for the award (Jackie Steinmann).
In her 19th year as head coach, Forsyth guided the Bruins to a second consecutive Pac-12 Championships team crown, as well as the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Championships. UCLA advanced from out of the west regional in second place after shooting a collective 4-under 860. In the NCAA Championship, the Bruins advanced to match play, after holding one of the top scores during the stroke play portion of the championship.
The Pac-12 Postseason Awards and Pac-12 All-Conference Team are voted on by Pac-12 head golf coaches. Please see below for the complete list of honors:
2018 PAC-12 WOMEN’S GOLF ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
First Team
Haley Moore, Arizona
Olivia Mehaffey, Arizona State
Jiyoon Jang, California
Robyn Choi, Colorado
Andrea Lee, Stanford
Mika Liu, Stanford
Albane Valenzuela, Stanford
Mariel Galdiano, UCLA
Patty Tavatanakit, UCLA
Lilia Vu, UCLA
Jennifer Chang, USC
Wenyung Keh, Washington
Honorable Mention
Yu-Sang Hou, Arizona
Bianca Pagdanganan, Arizona
Brittany Fan, Colorado
Beth Wu, UCLA
Alyaa Abdulghany, USC
Allisen Corpuz, USC
Alivia Brown, Washington State
Pac-12 Golfer of the Year: Lilia Vu, UCLA
Pac-12 Freshman of the Year: Patty Tavatanakit, UCLA
Pac-12 Coach of the Year: Carrie Forsyth, UCLA