The Bears are so back.
After a horrendous start to the spring season struck fear in Cal women’s golf fans everywhere, the team bounced back big time at the Alice and John Wallace Classic this weekend, finishing in fourth place out of the 16-team pool and proving their worth to fans, opponents and doubters alike.
The tournament had significant postseason implications for the Bears, who lumbered into Desert Valley with an abysmal 11-32-2 record Friday that was still a far cry from the .500 record needed to qualify for an at-large bid to the NCAA regional tournament. With only four tournaments left in the season, a couple of bad bogies could have all but killed the team’s regional dreams.
“(We knew) there was a lot at stake,” said senior Adora Liu. “It’s definitely always in the back of our heads, but never at the front when we’re competing.”
Fortunately for the Bears, they would be facing off against some of the lowest-ranked competition they had seen all year.
Out of the 16-team pool, only five teams — No. 2 USC, No. 10 Vanderbilt, No. 11 UCLA, No. 33 Eastern Michigan and No. 57 San Jose State — were ranked higher than No. 59 Cal going into the weekend. More than half the pool did not rank in the top 90.
“There are a few teams we felt like we would be able to beat, so there was not too much pressure on the line,” Liu said.
As long as Cal beat these lower-ranked competitors, it would be in a good position to eventually earn a winning record.
But rankings are just numbers, and golfers are usually flesh-and-blood human beings with complex nervous systems. Thus, it was no surprise that the Bears’ nerves almost got the best of them as the team shakily stroked into 10th place with a 16-over par 300 on Saturday.
Luckily, Liu’s veteran presence was there to help steady the ship for Cal; the upperclassman shot a 1-under par 70 in round one to place seventh on the individual leaderboards and buoy the Bears from potential disaster.
“I’ve had four years of playing collegiate golf,” Liu said. “Being used to the pressure really helped me dial in and play consistently.”
Cal showed improvement in the second round of play. Liu led the group once again with another 1-under par 70, while freshman Michelle Woo followed closely behind, with 1-over par on the day. The Bears had the sixth-best score out of all teams Sunday with a 7-over par 291 as they crawled up to eighth place in the overall standings.
It wasn’t until Monday, however, that Cal’s play truly became impeccable.
Junior Constance Fouillet put on a spectacle, shooting the third-best score of all players in the third round with a 3-under par 68. Woo also had her best day of the tournament at 1-under par, while junior Jasmine Kahler finished two strokes behind her teammate at 1-over par.
Altogether, the Bears finished with the third-lowest score of the day at 1-under par, as they were able to finally adapt to the new terrain.
“This course is a little hard to get used to at first,” Liu said. “There were a lot of … factors to adjust to. Getting two rounds under our belt was honestly very helpful for our third round.”
The Bears finished the weekend at 22-over par and four strokes behind the Bruins, landing them in fourth place and bringing their overall season record to 23-35-2.
The star of the Bears’ weekend was once again Liu, who finished in fourth place in individual play at even par, marking her best individual performance since the 2023 Causeway Invitational, back when Liu was only a freshman. Yet the senior won’t be throwing any victory parties just yet.
“It’s a great feeling to finish fourth, but I honestly want to do better,” Liu said. “I’m not terribly excited for this — I just feel like I could do a lot better.”
Now, Cal will have three weeks to readjust to the Bay Area climate in preparation for the Juli Inkster on March 9, when the team will head across the bay to TPC Harding Park in San Francisco in hopes of cutting down what is now a 12-win deficit between the Bears and that pivotal .500 record.