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| UCLA's Bronte Law (far right)) has her first win of the 2016-17 season. Photo courtesy of Tracy Wilcox |
By Kevin Casey
After a slow start for a second straight year, Bronte Law made it known that her brilliance hasn’t gone anywhere.
The Bruins senior fired a sensational second-round 6-under 65 Saturday at the Stanford Intercollegiate hosted by Condoleeza Rice to take a five-shot lead at the Stanford Golf Course. With the help, UCLA moved into an 11-shot lead through 36 holes.
As it turns out, it was a good thing for the Bruins they didn’t wait a day to take charge. The third (and final) round of the event, scheduled for Sunday, was cancelled due to rain, meaning UCLA (4 over) and Law (7 under) were awarded victories for their 36-hole results.
The Bruins, ranked fifth in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings, defeated host, and second-ranked, Stanford (15 over) by 11 shots, with No. 42 California third at 21 over, and No. 7 Florida and No. 3 USC tied for fourth at 22 over.
Law’s nearest competition was Stanford’s Andrea Lee, a freshman who won in her first career college start two weeks ago, and San Diego State’s Georgia Lacey at 2 under. Stanford’s Casey Danielson (1 under, fourth) were the only other players under par for the week.
UCLA’s Lilia Vu (T-5, 1 over) and Bethany Wu (T-8, 2 over) also finished in the top 10 at Stanford.
UCLA began the year with a third-place finish at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate Presented by 3M. Law, the reigning winner of the ANNIKA Award Presented by 3M, finished T-21 in that event. She placed T-25 there last year, but she’d go on to win three times in a season that earned her top billing in women’s college golf.
The win was Law’s seventh career title at UCLA, moving her to first on the school’s all-time list, as she surpassed Kay Cockerill.