In pursuit of their eighth Pac-12 title, the Bruins instead earned eighth place.

UCLA women’s golf finished at the Pac-12 championships in Phoenix with a score of 17-over 881 – two strokes behind seventh-place Oregon State and seven strokes ahead of ninth-place Washington. The eighth-place finish is the lowest finish at the conference tournament under coach Carrie Forsyth in her 24 years with the team.

Forsyth said even though the team wasn’t in contention for the conference title after the first round, she was proud of how the team persevered.

“The team remained very solid in terms of their emotions and their objectives,” Forsyth said. “They didn’t get down on themselves, and they kept giving their best effort.”

Sophomore Zoe Antoinette Campos was the top finisher for UCLA, carding a score of 3-under 213, which put her in a tie for seventh place. Campos recorded consistent scores of 1-under 71 on each day of the tournament.

According to Forsyth, Campos has developed into a well-rounded golfer over the course of the season.

“She hits the ball really well basically all the time,” Forsyth said. “She is pretty solid around the greens. Her putting has made some real strides, especially this last quarter.”

Campos and fellow sophomore Caroline Canales were named to the Pac-12 All-Conference team for the first time. The duo was selected alongside 10 other golfers from the conference.

Canales said she was not expecting the award because she has been dealing with shoulder injuries for most of the season.

“It’s really encouraging to know that, even when I didn’t feel like I was at my best or had taken full advantage of the opportunity of being here, that I still got the award,” Canales said. “It’s motivation for us to keep working hard and get ready for regionals.”

Canales added that UCLA was unable to play at the PING/ASU Invitational due to finals week, while nine other Pac-12 teams attended the tournament and garnered experience with the Papago Golf Club course in late March.

The sophomore carded the second-best score of the team – 2-over 218 – which left her in a tie for 20th place. Despite improving on her raw score of 6-over 222 since last year, Canales finished a spot lower this time around.

Canales said her game continues to improve as her career progresses.

“There are a lot of positive takeaways to gather and move forward with,” Canales said. “The work that I’ve been doing with my coaches, especially with putting, is starting to show. I am feeling more confident on the course than I did my freshman year.”

After two over-par rounds, senior Yuki Yoshihara carded an even 72 and jumped five spots up the leaderboard on the final day of the conference championship, leaving her in a tie for 46th place with a score of 13-over 229.

Alongside Yoshihara, Annabel Wilson was the other UCLA senior in the starting lineup. Wilson saw her best score – 1-over 73 – on the final day of the tournament, boosting her nine spots up the leaderboard into a tie for 39th place.

Wilson said after the first two rounds, the team wanted to improve for a much-needed confidence boost.

“We were definitely disappointed with the first two days,” Wilson said. “That really motivated us to play well on the last day and give it all that we had. We wanted to prove that we were a ranked team, and we were able to do that on the last day.”

The Bruins will continue their postseason at the NCAA Regionals from May 8 through May 10, but they are waiting to hear where they will be competing. The NCAA Selection Show will occur April 26.