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Sophomore Amie Cochran was one of the Bruins’ few highlights Wednesday, shooting a 1-under

COLUMBUS, Ohio — With thunderstorms still hundreds of miles to the west, the trees as still as the ponds they towered over and the temperature still tolerable, the Scarlet Golf Course on the Ohio State University campus was ripe for the taking Wednesday morning.

One problem: UCLA didn’t.

Before Wednesday’s second round of the NCAA Championships, UCLA women’s golf coach Carrie Forsyth acknowledged that her team probably wouldn’t have a realistic chance at winning the national title if it repeated its first-round performance.

One problem: The Bruins played worse ... much worse.

So as the problems mount and as the solutions remain elusive, UCLA’s defense of its No. 2 ranking and legitimate claim to capture the school’s 100th national title withered much further away Wednesday.

As the Bruins huddled beside the 18th green after their collective 18-over-par second round, leaving them at 31-over par at the tournament’s halfway point, they gloomily gazed at the slow-moving electronic scoreboard to see just how far they had fallen.

They had to wait longer than they expected for the answer: a whopping 10 teams and 21 shots behind frontrunner Arizona State.

It’s a position that’s largely unfathomable to most of the Bruins and even had the smallish-sized gallery asking what was wrong with UCLA.

“We’ve made a huge mess in two days,” freshman Tiffany Joh said. “I hope it only takes two days to get out of it.”

That may not be enough time.

Of the 10 teams that separate UCLA and the top of the leaderboard, seven are ranked in the top-10 in the nation.

And if the Bruins are to somehow crawl back into contention during “moving day” on Thursday, they confessed they needed several players to go under par.

At the Scarlet Course, however, where birdies come at a premium, walking away with a low number has proven to be rather difficult.

UCLA carded only one birdie in its first 45 collective holes Wednesday and have only posted two rounds less than 76 – Joh’s 71 on Tuesday and sophomore Amie Cochran’s 71 on Wednesday.

“It doesn’t look difficult, but the second you disrespect this course, it bites you,” said Cochran, who is tied with Joh as UCLA’s highest individual on the leaderboard in 22nd place at 5-over par. “We can’t afford to play desperately, but that’s tough because it’s hard not to be desperate when you look at the scoreboard and see where we are.”

“Good for Tiffany (on Tuesday) and good for Amie (on Wednesday), but we’re not going to win if we only have one person scoring well,” Forsyth said.

That formula worked against the Bruins on Wednesday, as four of the five players posted rounds of 78 (6-over par) or over, their feelings of frustration seemingly contagious.

On the par-5 12th, senior Susie Mathews’ par putt lipped out for a disappointing bogey.

In front of Mathews was freshman Jane Park, who tossed her putter in disgust after three-putting the par-4 16th.

Later on that same hole after a perfect drive, junior Hannah Jun hooked her approach shot out of bounds onto Kenny Road, the street that runs alongside the golf course.

After dropping the ball in the same spot, Jun hit her second approach stiff but tapped in for a bogey, not a birdie.

It all contributed to a day in which smiles were sparse, faces were long, and Forsyth found it necessary to talk to her players at length to keep their heads in the round.

“We need to lighten up a bit,” Forsyth said. “I don’t know if we need to go together to have some ice cream or what, but something.”

Yet as the Bruins were finishing their round on the front nine (UCLA teed off on the 10th) amid perfect conditions, tornado warnings began to blare throughout the area.

It could have served as a wake-up call for UCLA or as a warning of the inclement weather predicted for today’s third round – and maybe both.

If the wind does pick up and the rain does start to come down, it will have one supporter toting a UCLA golf bag.

“Bring it on,” Cochran said. “I’m rooting for bad weather.”