Golf courses at times have rough patches, whether that’s an obvious hole with visible dirt or a yellow patch; these will always be there. Like a rough-looking golf course, the Cal women’s golf team is looking similar. The team has one last regular season tournament before the Pac-12 championships. As the Bears prepare for the Silverado Showdown in Napa from April 4-6, an opportunity to assess the Bears’ progress so far is eminent.

This season for the Bears has been undoubtedly disappointing for its fans. At the Fresno State Classic, fans saw a bit of an improvement as the Bears finished sixth in a 15-team field. An accomplishment of the team at this tournament was that four team members shot par or better, something that fans were not able to see in the past tournaments. It seems as though the team is making changes yet the effort is not quite first-place worthy.

At the Gunrock Invitational, the team placed eighth in an 11-team invitational. Sophomore Mika Jin did very well in this invitational, where she tied for seventh place even after her break from golf after her wrist injury. 

At the Lamkin Invitational in San Diego, the Bears finished in 12th place in a 14-team field. This was a disappointing tournament for fans because of how poorly the team finished.

The most successful Cal women’s golf tournament this season was at the Juli Inkster invitational where the team placed fifth in a 13-team matchup. This result was better than what fans had seen before from the team during this season. 

“This shows the potential we have as a team,” Jin said. 

Things, however, are easier said than done, and we see that this potential has yet to be seen from this team.

The Bears definitely have had it rough this season; they also placed poorly at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge, where they placed 11th overall in a 16-team invitational.

These results throughout the season leave fans wanting more — wanting a win and wanting more of their players higher up on the rankings. It is not something they have been able to see until this point, except for when Jin placed seventh a few weeks back at the Gunrock Invitational.

If fans are anxious to see such results, is it possible for Cal women’s golf to step up? 

Next week in Napa, fans are hoping for a strong finish even if the results thus far have been everything but on par. It is up to the team to create a strong finish for themselves and show its talent to its viewers. 

These four days until the tournament will be important for the team to gather itself and show everyone what it is capable of.