At the end of the first round of the NCAA Championships at the
Scarlet Course in Columbus, Ohio, sophomore Amie Cochran stepped
into the scorer’s tent and reluctantly took out a pen.

Their national-championship hopes had long since vanished and
the narrow and tormenting Scarlet Course had gotten the best of
their psyches and their scorecards. Friday’s final round of
the NCAA Women’s Golf Championships in Columbus, Ohio,
didn’t offer the Bruins the chance to catch the leaders and
claim UCLA’s illustrious 100th NCAA title.

NEW YORK “”mdash; Maybe it’s the Scarlet Course’s
recently renovated greens, which are hard as rocks and as
undulating as a turtle’s shell.
Maybe it’s the course’s first cut of rough, as
unforgiving as the Bruins have played in all season and, at least
from their perspective, infringing on more and more of the tight
fairways.

COLUMBUS, Ohio “”mdash; With thunderstorms still hundreds of
miles to the west, the trees as still as the ponds they towered
over and the temperature still tolerable, the Scarlet Golf Course
on the Ohio State University campus was ripe for the taking
Wednesday morning.

COLUMBUS, Ohio “”mdash; Walking a golf course is usually not that
difficult. Walking it in Carrie Forsyth’s shoes this season,
however, has been. The UCLA women’s golf coach is pregnant
with twins and is due sometime around October.

After the UCLA women’s golf team captured the national
championship in 2004, coach Carrie Forsyth had the hats of each
Bruin on the team adorned with the number “92.”
It was a reminder that the five golfers who took home the NCAA
Championship trophy from Opelika, Ala., that year were part of
UCLA’s championship tradition, bringing home the
program’s 92nd national title.

For most collegiate golf coaches, the NCAA Regional is the most
nerve-wracking, gut-wrenching, “can’t bare to watch but
can’t afford not to” tournament on their schedules.

Sophomores Jordan Farmar and Arron Afflalo of the UCLA
men’s basketball team submitted their names on
Thursday for the 2006 NBA Draft, but left open the option to return
to Westwood for their junior season.

Sophomore men’s basketball player Arron Afflalo is
expected to hold a press conference some time this week to announce
his future with the Bruin program, according to the UCLA Athletic
Department.

INDIANAPOLIS “”mdash; So the road ends for UCLA.
Six rounds deep into the NCAA Tournament.
Five months after the season began.
Four weeks after clinching a Pac-10 title.