Familiar opponents and a treacherous course lie in waiting.

No. 23 UCLA women’s golf will compete in the Therese Hession Regional Challenge, hosted by Ohio State, from Sunday to Tuesday at Palos Verdes Golf Club.

The Bruins tied for 11th in last year’s iteration of the tournament, falling behind many of the same squads that will be competing this weekend, including No. 2 USC, No. 3 Oregon, No. No. 6 Florida and No. 11 Texas.

“It’s really important for us to be actually sharp with everything going into this tournament,” said coach Alicia Um Holmes. “Palos Verdes is very, very challenging in every regard: Off the tee, approach on into the green, short game, shots around the green and putting.”

The 13-team field includes several familiar opponents the Bruins have already faced this season. UCLA has competed against seven of the participating teams so far, but has struggled to finish ahead of most of them.

Oregon, USC, Pepperdine and Arizona State – all of which will be competing in Palos Verdes – placed ahead of UCLA at the Stanford Intercollegiate in October. Moreover, UCLA fell to SMU at the Windy City Collegiate Classic in September, and to Arizona State and Texas at the Nanea Invitational in late October.

Although the Bruins have had time to distance themselves from those results.

The only team UCLA has faced in the new year is crosstown rival USC. The two teams met for the Battle of LA last week, where the Bruins won just one of the five head-to-head match-ups.

Still, there are some bright spots heading into the tournament.

Freshman GaEun Athena Yoo boasted a strong performance in the Battle of LA, and was the only Bruin to walk away with a victory. Yoo’s potential could give the Bruins an increased edge heading into the competition.

“I feel I’ve definitely built lots of confidence over this event (Battle of LA) because, well, I made the lineup and I won my match,” Yoo said. “It was a big … boost for me, considering that I wasn’t able to compete at all over the fall.”

Despite the team’s previous experience with the course, the preparation for the tournament will be consistent.

“The qualifiers for us stay the same,” Um Holmes said. “We’re not going to change anything based upon the course layout.”

The historic tournament will commence this Sunday, as UCLA will have another opportunity to defeat its familiar competition in a tough course.

UCLA Athletics did not make a second athlete available for interview.