The Bruins are back on the big screen.
No. 11 UCLA women’s golf will compete in its first televised tournament of the 2025-26 season, as it takes on an 11-squad field featuring three top-25 teams, including home team and rival No. 2 USC, as well as No. 3 Oregon. The GameAbove Invitational will take place on Monday and finish Tuesday at the Rolling Hills Country Club in Rolling Hills Estates, California.
The GameAbove Invitational, announced on Feb. 5, will be broadcast on the Championship Golf Network and seeks to create visibility for women’s golf while creating a national stage at the collegiate level.
UCLA is no stranger to televised tournaments, though, having competed in three last season, as well as the NCAA regionals and championships.
“Our message stays the same,” said coach Alicia Um Holmes. “I don’t feel like because there’s more exposure that we’re trying to do anything different. We’re trying to keep our heads down and work hard and stick to our routines and our processes.”
The inaugural GameAbove Invitational will boast a similar format to many collegiate tournaments. The three rounds will be split between two days, with the final two rounds being televised, according to the tournament’s official website. The Rolling Hills Estates tournament will mark freshman Kacey Ly’s first televised collegiate competition.
Ly has been a consistent top-ranker for the Bruins throughout her inaugural season, most recently tying for fourth at the Bruins’ home tournament, the Bruin Wave Invitational, hosted Feb. 23-24.
“I don’t think my skill set has changed,” Ly said. “It’s just like knowing the mindset of knowing that if I do make a mistake, I can make it up in later holes. I can just trust my skills.”
She carded a 4-under 212, helping push the team to third overall as it fell behind No. 1 Stanford and co-host No. 10 Pepperdine.
“Kacey’s really been steady this 2026 year,” Um Holmes said. “She’s getting a little bit more consistent with her ball striking and getting more comfortable with her yardages. In the fall, she struggled with that, so she wasn’t quite trusting how far the ball was going, and it made it hard for her to be accurate with her approach shots.”
Sophomore Maye Huang, who competed as an individual at the Bruin Wave Invitational, hit a team-low 3-under 69 in the final round of the tournament to tie for No. 14 overall.
She said that the GameAbove Invitational represents an opportunity for female golfers to showcase their skills in a way that they are often not highlighted.
“Well, I obviously think women’s sports are underrated,” Huang said. “Especially for golf, they like to focus on the men more.”
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