It’s time to stop hibernating on the Bears.
After a last place finish at the Therese Hession Regional Challenge plummeted Cal women’s golf to an abysmal 11-32-2 record, fans had good reason to count their losses and look ahead to next season. Since then, though, the Bears have played their best golf of the year, recording 4th and 2nd place finishes in the Alice and John Wallace Classic and Juli Inkster, respectively.
At the Silicon Valley Showcase last weekend, Cal continued its hot streak as it carded a 9-over 861 in three rounds at the Green Hills Country Club in Millbrae to finish one stroke away from first place for the second tournament in a row. Now with a record of 43-37-2, the No. 44 Bears have climbed to their highest ranking of the season and are in a good position to make it to the postseason.
After these results, the team is as optimistic as ever.
“We bounced back from the fall and the beginning of spring,” said senior Adora Liu. “It’s only going to get better now.”
Liu, for her part, was once again a shining star for Cal across the weekend. She finished second in individual play, which tied for her best individual performance during her four years as a Bear.
Despite their recent successes, the Bears came into last weekend’s tournament with a record of 35-36-2, still short of the .500 record they would need to qualify for a bid to regionals. This meant that the postseason would have to be factored into every single stroke for Cal going forward.
Luckily, a few key factors offered hope for the blue and gold: a pool of underwhelming adversaries and a familiar Bay Area location. Having entered the top-50 following a second place finish at Juli Inkster, Cal found themselves holding the third highest spot in the 10-team tournament, behind No. 26 Eastern Michigan and No. 38 Kansas State.
Staying in the Bay was also an advantage for the Bears; the course at the Green Hills Country Club has a lot in common with the links courses that Cal practices on. The proximity also allowed more Cal fans and local families to show up for the team’s players from the Bay — Liu and freshman Michelle Woo.
“I’m lucky enough to have my parents come out and watch me play; it’s great to have a support system around you,” Liu said. “You get to see a lot of Cal fans (in the Bay Area) and a lot of them cheer you on.”
Though the Bears weren’t the only team on home turf, they were certainly the best at golf out of the locals — the other Bay Area competitors, Santa Clara University and the University of San Francisco, both rank outside of the top 75.
With all of these advantages, Cal was bound to put on a show — and that it did. From the first of the tournament’s three rounds, the Bears showed their claws as a force to be reckoned with, carding a 4-under 280 to pull ahead of a field where the median score was an 11-over 295.
As stellar as it was, 4-under par wasn’t quite enough to be the best; Eastern Michigan still stood at the top of the rankings after the first round, inching out Cal by a single stroke with a 5-under 279. But this would change in the second round, as the Eagles faltered and the Bears stayed steady — Cal’s 4-over 288 brought the team to the front of the pack as East Michigan fell four strokes behind.
But the final day saw tragedy unfold for the Bears. In an ending eerily similar to that of tournament’s loss to San Jose State, Cal melted when the pressure got hot, carding a 9-over 293 to slip back into second place, one stroke behind Eastern Michigan. This marked the second straight tournament that the Bears lost by a single stroke.
Liu, the Bears’ oldest representative in Millbrae, once again proved the value of veteran leadership in the third round. Just like at Juli Inkster, the senior had her best round when it mattered most — carding a 1-under 70 to stave her squad off from disaster.
“I’ve been trying to work harder and show out with what I can give,” Liu said. “Also, not really letting anything affect me. Whatever I do, good or bad, it’s just life and golf. I’m just trying to enjoy it.”
Though the tight result may have been painful for the Bears, pride was still high on the bus ride back to Berkeley, as the team looked ahead to their final tournament of the year before the ACC championship: the Chevron Silverado Showdown in Napa, California.
“We’re actually really excited going into this one. It’s in Napa, (a) really beautiful place. And as a senior, I want to go out with a bang,” Liu said.
The competition will certainly be tougher for Cal; the pool in Napa will include No. 2 USC, No. 5 Oregon, No. 37 Cal State Fullerton, No. 45 Oregon State and familiar foes such as Eastern Michigan and San Jose State. To prepare for Napa, Liu said the Bears have focused on staying in the fairway from off the tee, and honing in on their short game. She set a goal for Cal fans, too.
“Come out and support! You never know what you’ll see out there,” Liu said. “The weather’s gonna be great, too.”
The first round of the Chevron Silverado Showdown will kick off at the Silverado Country Club and Resort at 8:30 a.m. Monday.