Women’s Golf Readies for Regionals in Las Vegas
LOS ANGELES – The No. 1-seeded UCLA women's golf team plays in the NCAA Las Vegas Regional at Spanish Trail Country Club May 6-8.
Teams will play 18 holes each day, starting Monday, May 6 with tee times beginning at 8 a.m. (PT). The top five teams and the low individual not on an advancing team from the NCAA Las Vegas Regional will advance to compete in the NCAA Championships.
Fans can follow the action live of this GolfStat live scoring link.
UCLA Lineup: Zoe Antoinette Campos, Meghan Royal, Natalie Vo, Kate Villegas and Caroline Canales.
UCLA Substitute: Alessia Nobilio.
The Field: (4) UCLA, (9) Arkansas, (16) Arizona, (19) Florida State, California, Purdue, Baylor, Oklahoma, Colorado State, Kent State, Xavier, Dartmouth. *
* rankings from Scoreboard powered by Clippd
Weather Report: Sunny with temperature highs in the low 80s.
Par and Yardage: Par 72, 6665/6615 yards.
History at NCAA Regionals
UCLA has won eight NCAA Regionals titles in program history, the last coming in the 2014 at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla. Current UCLA assistant coach Erynne (Lee) Yoo was a member of that squad. Seven Bruins have medaled a total of nine times at an NCAA Regional event. The last was Emma Spitz in 2021 at University of Louisville Golf Club.
UCLA has advanced to the NCAA Championships in four of the last five seasons. The Bruins have won three NCAA Championships (2011, 2004, 1991).
UCLA Returns to Spanish Trail Country Club
Just under two months ago, the Bruins won their fifth tournament of the season at The Show hosted at Spanish Trail Country Club. UCLA was co-champions with SMU, sharing a score of 6-under 858. Campos won her second of three medals this season (-7; 68-70-71) by three strokes. Nobilio joined Campos in the top 10 at 1-under (71-73-71). Canales played a big role in securing the team title with her performance down the final stretch of the third round. Canales birdied two of her final three holes on the par-5 18th and par-4 1st.
Three Bruins Earn All-Pac-12 Recognition
Zoe Antoinette Campos was named to the All-Pa-12 First Team for the second year in a row, it was announced after the conclusion of the Pac-12 Championships on April 24. In addition to Campos, three Bruins were recognized as All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention: Caroline Canales, Meghan Royal and Kate Villegas.
Last Time Out
UCLA placed fourth with a score of 12-under 852 in its final Pac-12 Championships at Palouse Ridge Golf Course on April 23. The Bruins finished the tournament strong with rounds of 12-under 276 and 11-under 277 on the final two days. Campos was UCLA's top golfer, placing seventh for the second year in a row at 4-under (73-70-69). Sophomore Meghan Royal joined Campos in the top 10, tying for ninth at 3-under (75-70-68). Royal climbed 12 spots on day three behind five birdies and just one bogey.
Campos' Season
Campos was one of 15 collegians to be named to the ANNIKA Award Spring Watch List last month (second year making the Watch List). Campos claimed her third win of the Spring 2024 college season at the PING/ASU Invitational (-9; 69-70-68) on March 30. Campos also won back-to-back medals at the Nanea Pac-12 Preview (-8; 71-70-70) and The Show (-7; 68-70-71).
The Valencia, Calif. product leads UCLA with a 70.6 scoring average, seven top-10 finishes, 18 rounds under par, and is the only Bruin to have all of her stroke play rounds contribute to the team score (25/25). Additionally, Campos is undefeated in match play this season (4-0-0).
Campos enters this week ranked sixth in the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR) and 12th in the Scoreboard individual rankings.
Campos in the Record Books
Campos is tied with WGCA Hall of Famer Charlotte Mayorkas (2001-05) for fifth on UCLA's career wins list with five. Campos' three wins in 2023-24 are tied for second in a single season in UCLA history.
Campos has recorded 18 rounds under par which are tied for fifth in a single season by a UCLA golfer. The UCLA single-season record for rounds under par is 20 set by Lilia Vu, Bronte Law and Alison Lee.
UCLA Season in Review
First-year head coach Alicia Um Holmes has guided UCLA to four stroke play wins and a Battle for the Bell match play title versus crosstown rival USC in her debut season.
UCLA's surge was signaled in the third round of their first tournament of the season at the Mason Rudolph Championship on Sept. 24. All five Bruins shot under par to total a team score of 15-under 273 on day three for the fifth lowest 18-hole score in program history.
The Bruins rode that momentum into their very next round, shooting a 16-under 272 to open the Windy City Collegiate Classic. That mark is tied for the third lowest 18-hole score in program history and is UCLA's best showing since round three of the 2018 Golfweek Conference Challenge. UCLA's final score of 32-under 832 tied the program 54-hole record and secured Um Holmes' first win as head coach. Three Bruins placed in the top 10, and even more impressive, the win came in a stacked field containing nine top 25 teams. UCLA finished nine strokes ahead of second-place Northwestern.
UCLA concluded the fall with a t-5th spot at the highly competitive Stanford Intercollegiate (+6, 858) after entering the final round one stroke back of the lead.
The Bruins captured their first win of Spring 2024 at the Nanea Pac-12 Preview in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii on Feb. 22. UCLA shot 11-under 865 and Campos led a trio of Bruins in the top 10 with a podium finish at 8-under (71-70-70). The Bruins shot the lowest scores of the tournament in rounds two and three after trailing by eight strokes at the end of the first round.
UCLA earned back-to-back team and individual titles at The Show in Las Vegas two weeks later. The Bruins posted a team score of 6-under 858 and Campos won by three strokes at 7-under (68-70-71).
ANWA Recap
Campos and incoming Bruins' freshman Francesca Fiorellini (Rome, Italy) competed at the fifth annual Augusta National Women's Amateur (ANWA) from April 3-6. Campos, making her third appearance at the event, missed the cut with round scores of 73-76. Fiorellini tied for 30th at 9-over (67-78-80). The Italian was tied for second and one stroke back of the lead after the first round.
Rolex Player of the Year Lilia Vu
UCLA women's golf alumna Lilia Vu earned 2023 Rolex Player of the Year honors on Nov. 20, 2023. Vu, who competed for the Bruins from 2015-2018, is the first American to be the Rolex Player of the Year since Stacy Lewis in 2014. The 26-year-old Vu took the sport by storm, capturing four wins, including two major championship titles at The Chevron Championship and the AIG Women's Open. She became the seventh Bruin to win an LPGA Tour event and the third to win a major. Vu is the first UCLA product to win multiple majors and first to win multiple events in the same year.
Vu produced three other top-10 results in addition to her four titles.
Vu became a Rolex first-time winner at the Honda LPGA Thailand on Feb. 23, and won her maiden major title two months later at The Chevron Championship in its first year at The Club at Carlton Woods on April 20. In August, Vu won her second major championship at the AIG Women's Open, where she became the first American to etch her name on two major championship trophies in a single season since Juli Inkster in 1999. As a result, she ascended to No. 1 in the Rolex Rankings for the first time in her career. The victory also secured Vu the Rolex ANNIKA Major Award, which recognizes the player who has the most outstanding record in all five major championships during the LPGA Tour season.
She is the third player since the inception of the LPGA in 1950 to enter a year with no career LPGA wins, then go on to win multiple majors that season (Se Ri Pak, 1998 and Meg Mallon, 1991). A 2019 LPGA Tour rookie, Vu regained full membership for the 2022 season through the Epson Tour's Race for the Card in 2021 after winning three times and earning Player of the Year honors.
At UCLA, Vu was the Pac-12 Conference Golfer of the Year, WGCA Player of the Year and a Honda Sport Award Finalist in 2018. Vu, a three-time WGCA First-Team All-American, ranks first in UCLA history with eight victories and second with a 71.09 scoring average.
A New Era
On May 25, 2023, UCLA Athletics announced Alicia Um Holmes as the next head coach of the UCLA women's golf team. Um Holmes, who spent the last 17 years as an assistant and associate head coach for the Bruins, is the fifth head coach in the program's history.
Alongside UCLA Athletic Hall of Famer Carrie Forsyth, Um Holmes helped guide the Bruins to the 2011 NCAA Championship, five NCAA Regional titles and two Pac-12 Championships. Beginning her first year as an assistant in 2006, Um Holmes and Forsyth went on a dominant run of five consecutive seasons, with top three finishes at both the conference championships and Regionals. They placed top three at nationals in four of those five years.
Um Holmes and Forsyth have produced two ANNIKA Award winners, which is annually given to the top female Division I collegiate golfer, in Alison Lee (2014) and Bronte Law (2016), as well as two PING WGCA Player of the Year honorees in Law (2016) and Lilia Vu (2018). Eleven UCLA golfers have hauled in 21 WGCA First-Team All-American Awards since Um Holmes has been on the coaching staff. No school has won more Pac-10/12 Golfer of the Year awards than UCLA since Um Holmes has been on staff, with four Bruin golfers taking home the honor five times.
An All-American Returns Home
Um Holmes announced former Bruin All-American golfer Erynne (Lee) Yoo as her assistant coach on June 26, 2023. Yoo was coached by Um Holmes and Forsyth during her collegiate playing career from 2011-2015. As a Bruin, Yoo was a three-time WGCA All-American, earning first-team recognition in 2012 and 2013, was an All-Pac-12 First Team honoree in 2013 and was both the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and NGCA Freshman of the Year in 2012.
Yoo returns to Westwood after a season and a half as the assistant at Princeton University. The Tigers posted three top 3 finishes in 2022-2023 and recorded their best performance of the season at the Columbia Classic where they placed second out of 14 teams. One of Yoo's golfers, Victoria Liu, qualified for NCAA Regionals.
Hall-of-Fame Head Coach Carrie Forsyth
Carrie Forysth, who completed her 24th and final season as head coach in 2022-23, was inducted into the 2023 UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame Class on Oct. 7. She is the fourth member of the program to be enshrined.
During her tenure, she led the Bruins to two NCAA titles (2004 and 2011), eight top 3 NCAA finishes, three runner-up finishes and 20 NCAA Championship appearances. Her Bruins won nine NCAA Regional Championships, five Pac-12 titles and 74 tournament victories. A two-time National Coach of the Year, Forsyth won four Regional Coach of the Year awards and six Pac-12 Coach of the Year honors. Forsyth coached two ANNIKA Award winners, two PING WGCA Players of the Year, 14 first-team All-Americans and three golfers who went on to win an LPGA Major event. Forsyth was a walk-on at UCLA and competed at the Pac-10 and NCAA Championships her freshman season before earning a scholarship by her sophomore year.
Mayorkas Joins WGCA Hall of Fame
Charlotte Mayorkas, one of just four three-time WGCA First Team All-Americans in UCLA history, was inducted into the WGCA Players Hall of Fame on Dec. 4, 2023.
Mayorkas competed for UCLA from 2001-2005 and is the fifth Bruin to be enshrined by the WGCA and third as a member of the Players Hall of Fame. She joins Janet Coles (Players Class of 1988), Jackie Tobian-Steinmann (Coaches Class of 1989), Kay Cockerill (Players Class of 1996) and Carrie Forsyth (Coaches Class of 2011).
Mayorkas' historic senior campaign helped lead the Bruins to the Pac-10 Championship, NCAA Regional Championship and NCAA Championship titles in 2004. She tallied a single-season school record four wins and 10 top-10 finishes en route to capturing the individual Pac-10 title and was named the first Pac-10 Golfer of the Year in program history. Mayorkas finished top 5 at both NCAA Regionals and NCAA Championships that season. A native of Chula Vista, Calif., Mayorkas ranks second in program history in career top-10 finishes (24) and fifth in career tournament wins (5). After graduating from UCLA, Mayorkas turned professional and won two Duramed Futures Tour titles before going on to make 54 out of 67 cuts during her career on the LPGA Tour.
2024 Signing Class
Um Holmes inked her first signing class as head coach last winter with the additions of top Italian amateur Francesca Fiorellini (Rome, Italy) and Angela Liu (Irvine, Calif.).
Fiorellini was ranked as the top golfer in Italy, 15th in Europe and 36th worldwide in the latest World Amateur Golf Rankings at the time of her signing. Her amateur career is headlined by individual victories at the French International Lady Juniors Amateur Championship in 2021, the 92nd Portuguese International Ladies Amateur Championship (-9; 70-69-68-72) and the ANNIKA Invitational Europe (-5; 69-71-74) in 2022. Fiorellini also claimed three major team victories in 2023 at the Junior Ryder Cup, Junior Solheim Cup and Patsy Hankins Trophy.
Fiorellini competed alongside Campos at the 2024 Augusta National Women's Amateur and made the cut. Fiorellini tied for 30th at 9-over (67-78-80). The Italian was tied for second and one stroke back of the lead after the first round.
Liu was a two-time ROLEX Junior Honorable Mention All-American in 2021 and 2022. Liu starred on a Santa Margarita Catholic High School squad that had its best year in program history in 2022. In Liu's junior year, Santa Margarita Catholic swept the individual and team titles at the CIF State Championships and CIF Southern California Regional Championships. Liu won the CIF state medal at San Gabriel Country Club by five strokes, shooting 5-under 67.