Women’s Golf Prepares for NCAA Championship Run

LOS ANGELES – The UCLA women's golf team embarks on a quest for its fourth national title May 17-22 at the NCAA Championships hosted at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif.
 
GOLF Channel will feature live coverage of the final round of stroke play and all of match play competition from May 20-22 between the hours of 3 p.m. - 7 p.m. (PT). Fans can also follow the action at this GolfStat live scoring link.
 
The Format
Thirty teams and six individuals take the course for three rounds of stroke play Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The field will be cut to 15 teams and nine individuals not on an advancing team after Sunday's round, with the final round of stroke play taking place Monday. The individual national champion will be crowned on Monday and the top eight teams will advance to match play competition.
 
The quarterfinals and semifinals of match play will be on Tuesday, May 21. The NCAA title match will be played Wednesday, May 22 to determine the team champion.
 
The NCAA Division I women's champion will be invited to participate in the Augusta National Women's Amateur.
 
UCLA Lineup: Zoe Antoinette Campos, Caroline Canales, Meghan Royal, Natalie Vo and Kate Villegas.
 
UCLA Alternate: Tiffany Le.
 
The Field (30 teams): Arizona State, Arkansas, Auburn, Baylor, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, LSU, Michigan State, Mississippi State, North Carolina, Northwestern, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, Oregon, Oregon State, Pepperdine, Purdue, San Jose State, SMU, South Carolina, Stanford, Texas, Texas A&M, Tulsa, UCLA, USC, Vanderbilt, Virginia and Wake Forest.
 
Weather Report: Partly cloudy and sunny with temperature highs in the low 70s.
 
Par and Yardage: Par 72, 6,330 yards.
 
History at the NCAA Championships
UCLA has won the NCAA title three times in program history: 2011, 2004 and 1991. Additionally, the Bruins have won the NCAA team stroke play title twice (2018, 2016) since the championship format switched to include match play in 2015.
 
The Bruins are making their 33rd team appearance in the NCAA Championships and five in the last six seasons. No UCLA student-athlete has won the individual NCAA stroke play title. Three Bruins have placed runner-up for the individual stroke play title: Emma Spitz (2022), Tiffany Joh (2008) and Christy Erb (1991).
 
Experience at the NCAA Championships
Two of UCLA's golfers in this week's lineup carry NCAA Championship experience. Both Caroline Canales and Zoe Antoinette Campos competed in the 2022 NCAA Championships as freshmen. Canales played all four rounds and placed t-21st (+6) while Campos was utilized as an alternate after the first round, posting scores of 76-71. Campos also won her quarterfinal match play round.
 
Regionals Recap
UCLA claimed a fourth-place finish (+12) at the NCAA Las Vegas Regional on May 8 to punch its ticket to the NCAA Championships. Junior Zoe Antoinette Campos earned a share of the individual title, finishing at six-under for the week (72-65-73). Campos' 7-under 65 in the second round matched her 18-hole collegiate career-low score.
 
With the win, Campos became the first Bruin to medal at regionals since Emma Spitz did in 2021 and the 10th Bruin to medal overall at regionals in school history. As a team,
 
Campos' Season
Campos enters this week ranked as the top American woman collegiate golfer, according to the World Amateur Golf Rankings. She was one of 10 collegians to be named to the ANNIKA Award Final Watch List, it was announced May 10 (second year making the Watch List).
 
Campos claimed her fourth win of the Spring 2024 college season at the NCAA Las Vegas Regional hosted by Spanish Trail Country Club on May (-6; 72-65-73). She medaled at the same course earlier this season while competing at "The Show" tournament (-7; 68-70-71).
 
The Valencia, Calif. native leads UCLA with a 70.5 scoring average, eight top 10s, 19 rounds under par, nine rounds in the 60s and is the only Bruin to have all of her stroke play rounds contribute to the team score (28/28). Additionally, Campos is undefeated in match play this season (4-0-0).
 
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.
 
Campos in the Record Books
With her win at NCAA Regionals, Campos is tied for fourth in career wins in school history (6) and now has four wins on the season, which ties the program single-season record.
 
Campos has recorded 19 rounds under par this season, which is tied for fourth all-time in a single season. The UCLA single-season record for rounds under par is 20, set by Lilia Vu, Bronte Law and Alison Lee.
 
Career Match Play Statistics
Zoe Antoinette Campos is undefeated in her collegiate match play career (8-0-1). Caroline Canales is 6-2-0 in her collegiate match play career.
 
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.