UCLA women’s golf seeks strong end to regular season prior to Pac-12 Championships
Sophomore Meghan Royal follows through after swinging to hit the ball. (Courtesy of UCLA Athletics)
By Sabrina Messiha
April 7, 2024 12:56 p.m.
Junior Zoe Antoinette Campos brought home her second collegiate win from the Silverado Showdown last season.
But this year, Campos’ absence from the lineup leaves a hole to be filled.
No. 4 UCLA women’s golf will travel to Napa, California to compete in its final regular season tournament of the 2023-24 run at the Chevron Silverado Showdown beginning Monday. Campos’ absence is not a surprise, as she competed in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur this past week alongside future Bruin Francesca Fiorellini.
Campos chose to take the weekend off to rest in preparation for postseason competition rather than compete in back-to-back tournaments.
“She (Campos) played back-to-back events after finals week,” said coach Alicia Um Holmes. “I think she just needs to regroup… to get back into her normal routine so she can recover from the tournaments.”
While she will not take her talents to the tournament this upcoming week, Campos was named Pac-12 Player of the Week after her co-championship placing at the PING/ASU Invitational.
The hole in the lineup will be filled by freshman Jennifer Seo, who made her collegiate debut at the Battle of the Bell during the fall portion of this season, where she won her match play round against her Trojan opponent.
“Her main thing that she struggles with is being too results-focused, and if you do that at Silverado, it’s going to be a tough approach,” Um Holmes said. “We just told her … to really stay in the moment and be present so she can get some good results.”
The Silverado Showdown will be the first three-round tournament Seo will play this season. She will play alongside senior Kate Villegas, juniors Caroline Canales and Tiffany Le and sophomore Meghan Royal – who will make her first line-up appearance since the Nanea Pac-12 Preview in February.
“It’s really important to just hone in on playing for your team and playing for your school,” Royal said. “I’ve been working really hard, … so I feel confident going into the tournament.”
The regular season’s completion comes with the Pac-12 Championships arrival in late April.
UCLA will compete against each Pac-12 team – including No. 1 Stanford and No. 9 USC – in its first round of postseason play.
“I think just sticking to what we’ve been doing… and staying confident and believing in myself and believing in the team,” Villegas said. “I think we have a really good shot of making it really far.”
