After 24 seasons as the head women’s golf coach at UCLA, Carrie Forsyth is calling it a career.
The longtime Bruins’ leader announced Monday she is retiring at season’s end. Forsyth will take on a newly-created role as a special assistant to The Alice and Nahum Lainer Family Director of Athletics Martin Jarmond.
“I have been blessed to call UCLA my home for 29 years,” Forsyth said in a release. “It has been a privilege to live out my dream as the head coach at my alma mater and carry on the legacy of our golf program at this world-class institution for more than two decades. I have had the opportunity to coach some of the most amazing and dedicated student-athletes in the sport, and I will forever cherish our journey together. I want to thank my associate head coach and dear friend Alicia Um Holmes for her care and attention toward our team. I cannot overstate my gratitude to the UCLA administrators and the athletic department as a whole for its support of myself and our program over the years. I am thrilled to continue shaping our bright future at UCLA.”
Forsyth’s career with UCLA was stellar. It included two NCAA titles, nine NCAA Regional championships and 74 tournament victories. The Bruins finished top three at the NCAA Championships on eight occasions, and 17 of her golfers have placed top 10 as individuals at nationals. Forsyth’s five Pac-12 Championships rank second in conference history and lead all active coaches.
Forsyth has produced two ANNIKA Award winners, which is annually given to the top female Division I collegiate golfer, in Alison Lee (2014) and Bronte Law (2016), as well as two PING WGCA Player of the Year honorees in Law (2016) and Lilia Vu (2018).
Vu won her first major championship Sunday at The Chevron Championship in The Woodlands, Texas, at The Club at Carlton Woods. She’s Forsyth’s third golfer who has gone on to win a major.
Fourteen UCLA golfers captured 27 WGCA First-Team All-American Awards under Forsyth’s tutelage. Most recently, Emma Spitz became the fourth player in program history to be named to the first team three times in a career.
Forsyth walked on the UCLA’s women’s golf team as a freshman in 1990 and competed in the Pac-10 and NCAA Championships before earning a scholarship by her sophomore season. She went on to graduate with honors from UCLA in 1994 with a degree in psychology. Before taking the UCLA job, Forsyth was the head coach at CSUN from 1996-99 and named the 1998-99 Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year.
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