Carrie Forsyth is synonymous with coaching excellence at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), but her illustrious golf journey started back in Santa Clarita as a highly decorated junior player. 

Forsyth, then Leary, won more than 30 junior tournaments and, as a sixth grader, placed third in the 1983 Junior World Championship. In high school, she lettered on the boys’ golf team and was named MVP as a senior. As an amateur, Forsyth competed in four U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championships, three U.S. Amateur Championships and was an alternate qualifier for the 1992 and 1994 U.S. Women’s Open Championships.  

In 1990, Forsyth walked on at UCLA and played in 11 tournaments, including the PAC-10 and NCAA Championships, and would earn a scholarship after her freshman year. In her final season as a college player, she served as student assistant coach before graduating with honors.

Shortly after school, Forsyth was hired as the head coach at California State University, Northridge, and was named the 1998-99 Big Sky Coach of the Year in her third and final season. Under Forsyth, the Matadors improved their team scoring average by 31 strokes.

In 1999, Forsyth began what would become an unprecedented 24-year run at her alma mater as head coach of the UCLA women’s golf team. In her nearly quarter century at the helm, the Bruins won two NCAA Championships (2004, 2011), nine NCAA Regional Championships and five conference championships. 

Forsyth is a Golfweek National Coach of the Year, four-time Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) Regional Coach of the Year and a record-setting six-time PAC 10/12 Coach of the Year. She has coached numerous notable players including Lilia Vu, Melissa “Mo” Martin and Patty Tavatanakit, all of whom have won major championships on the LPGA Tour.

In 2023, Forsyth was inducted into the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame, 12 years after her induction into the WGCA Hall of Fame.