After a constant shuffle of the top three teams in the country throughout the season, the NCAA Championships in Bryan, Texas, presented a chance for the UCLA women’s golf team to solidify where it really stood.

By the end of the final round, the view from the top was a beauty.

The Bruins brought NCAA title No. 107 home to Westwood with a final score of 1,173 ( 21), four strokes better than second-place Purdue.

The margin might have been a bit closer if Purdue senior Thea Hoffmeister had not been disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard.

The Boilermakers, the defending national champions, were right behind the Bruins for the entire tournament.

Purdue nearly overtook UCLA on the final day, but the Boilermakers’ last efforts were to no avail, as Hoffmeister was disqualified and the Bruins extended their lead.

UCLA started and ended strong, finishing every round of the tournament in first place.

“It was great to be in the lead,” coach Carrie Forsyth said.

“It was nice to have that cushion.”

Usually dominant USC and Alabama – respectively the No. 1 and No. 3 teams in the country coming into the championships – lacked their typical success, not even breaking into the top 10 until the third round of competition.

But watching other high-performing teams fall behind had little effect on the Bruins, according to senior Glory Yang.

“Even with them falling behind, there were still other teams chasing us,” she said.

The course made the competition easier on UCLA.

According to Yang, each member of the team had different techniques that helped the Bruins succeed on Traditions Club Golf Course.

Sophomore Tiffany Lua managed to record a hole-in-one on the 11th hole on Friday before tournament play was halted because of darkness.

The last day was tough for the Bruins, as they woke up early to finish the delayed third round and then went on to play the fourth. The entire team had a tough round that day, save for one: freshman Ani Gulugian.

“That morning, Stephanie (Kono) wrote me a note. … She said that she believed in me and to believe in myself,” Gulugian said.

“I just knew what I had to do, and I was really in the zone,” she added.

Lua had the top finish for the Bruins, posting a score of 287 (-1), and redshirt sophomore Lee Lopez ended up with a score of 297 ( 9). Kono, a junior, carded a 298 ( 10), while Yang finished with a score of 300 ( 12), and Gulugian shot 305 ( 17).

UCLA had previously won national titles in 1991 and 2004, and this marked the team’s second under Forsyth.

Yang and Gulugian represent opposite sides of the spectrum – this was Yang’s fourth and final NCAA championship, while it was the first for Gulugian.

Despite the discrepancy, both of them used the same word to describe the win: awesome.

“It’s awesome, there’s no other way to describe it,” Gulugian said. “This was the goal, even before I committed here.”

“It’s really awesome,” Yang said. “We played really well when it really mattered. I’m proud of my teammates, my coaches, everyone who cheered for us. So proud.”