The USC women's golf team, ranked No. 1 for most of the 2018-19 season and with four wins this year under first-year head coach Justin Silverstein, moves through the 2018-19 spring season at the 2019 PING/ASU, Friday to Sunday (March 29-31), at the Papago G.C. in Phoneix, Ariz.
The Trojans, who have seven top 3 finishes this season, are playing in the PING/ASU for the first time since the 2014-15 season. They have won the event twice, in 2001 and 2008 and have had two medalists, Dewi Schreefel (2008) and Sophia Popov (2011).
USC will join host Arizona State in the 15-team field along with Arizona, Colorado, Denver, Furman, Georgia, New Mexico, Northwestern, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Stanford, UCLA and Washington.
Play will start at 8 a.m. PT Friday and Saturday on the par 72, 6,430-yard course and at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday. Results will be available at Golfstat.com.
TEAM OVERVIEW
The Trojans, who reached their second straight NCAA Championships semifinal appearance in May as well as the 13th consecutive top 5 finish, are now under Silverstein's leadership after the former Trojan associate head coach took over for Andrea Gaston, USC's long-time coach who departed Troy during the off-season to become head coach at Texas A&M.
Silverstein, who served under Gaston for four years before spending the past two seasons as the associate head coach with the USC men's squad, helped lead the USC women to the 2013 NCAA crown as well as top 5 finishes the three following seasons.
The Trojan squad has acclimated quickly to the new leadership, winning its three October tournaments, most recently repeating as East Lake Cup champions in Atlanta. That followed a win at the Stanford Intercollegiate by a commanding 15-stroke margin that saw four Trojans finish in the top 10. USC began the streak with a win at the Windy City Collegiate by five strokes at the start of the month, which also saw sophomore Gabriela Ruffels capture her first career title at 10-under 206 (69-66-71). USC captured its first spring win with a 16-stroke victory at the Clover Cup where sophomore Jennifer Chang tied for first at 2-under 214 (72-72-70).
USC returned all five starters from the squad that made the NCAA semifinal run last year including Ruffels and fellow sophomores Chang, Amelia Garvey and Alyaa Abdulghany as well as junior Allisen Corpuz. Also back this season are juniors Divya Manthena and Leong, who both saw action last year. Manthena, in fact, was a starter on a pair of fall wins.
Leading the newcomers is freshman Malia Nam, from Kailua, Hawaii. She is joined by freshmen in Katherine Muzi from Walnut, Calif., and Georgia Carr, from Milltown, Ireland.
2018-19 STARTING LINEUPS
ANNIKA Intercollegiate: Corpuz-Abdulghany-Chang-Ruffels-Nam
Windy City Collegiate: Corpuz-Leong -Chang-Ruffels-Nam
Stanford Intercollegiate: Abdulghany-Chang-Ruffels-Garvey-Nam
East Lake Cup: Abdulghany-Chang-Ruffels-Garvey-Nam
Pac-12 Preview: Abdulghany-Chang-Ruffels-Garvey-Nam
Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge: Corpuz-Chang-Ruffels-Garvey-Nam
Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate: Corpuz-Chang-Ruffels-Garvey-Nam
Clover Cup: Corpuz-Chang-Ruffels-Garvey-Nam
PING/ASU: Abdulghany-Chang-Ruffels-Garvey-Nam
TROJANS IN THE SPOTLIGHT
* Junior Allisen Copruz and sophomores Alyaa Abdulghany and Jennifer Chang all received invitations to the inaugural Augusta National Women's Amateur Championship, which is set for April 4-6. USC's trio all earned their berths by being among the top 30 Americans based on the Women's World Amateur Golf Rankings end of the year results. The international field will consist of 72 golfers competing over 54 holes of stroke play, with a cut after two rounds.
* Chang and freshman Malia Nam were named to the U.S. team for the 2019 Arnold Palmer Cup hosted by The Alotian Club in Roland, Arkansas, June 7-9. Other Trojans who were in the Arnold Cup Rankings prior to the team selections on March 5 sophomore Alyaa Abdulghany on the U.S. side and Australian Gabriela Ruffels and New Zealand's Amelia Garvey on the international list.
* Chang is ranked No. 11 in the latest Golfstat rankings while Garvey is No. 17, Nam is No. 20 and Ruffels is No. 26. Abdughany is No. 47 and Corpuz is No. 95.
2018-19 Highlights
* USC's wins at the Windy City, Stanford Intercollegiate, East Lake Cup and the Clover Cup are the first four wins for new head coach Justin Silverstein. The trio of consecutive fall wins was USC's first three-event win streak since also winning three straight in the 2018 spring. The last time USC enjoyed a longer win streak was a four-tournament stretch in the spring of 2014 … USC has now won at least four tournaments in six of the past seven season.
* USC's first-round, 12-under 272 at the Stanford Intercollegiate is tied for the fourth-best round in program history. Only a 270 at the 2014 NCAAs and a pair of 271s at the 2015 ANNIKA Intercollegiate and the 2015 Arizona Wildcat Invitational have been better. The 272 ties USC's 2013 Stanford Intercollegiate best effort.
* Troy's 16-stroke win at the Clover Cup is its biggest margin of victory since winning the Gold Rush at Old Ranch C.C. by 18 strokes in February of 2016. USC also won the Stanford Intercollegiate by 15 strokes.
* USC repeated as East Lake Cup champions with the same outcome as last year's final, a 3-2 win over Stanford. That followed a 4-1 win over defending NCAA champion Arizona in the semifinal and a second-place finish in the solo stroke play round to determine seeding. It is Troy's third title in the event's four-year history.
* Sophomore Jennifer Chang leads USC in stroke average (72.27) through 22 rounds while freshman Malia Nam is second (72.32) also with 22 rounds. Sophomore Alyaa Abdulghany is third on the team (72.63). Sophomore Gabriela Ruffels is fourth (72.68) while sophomore Amelia Garvey is fifth at 73.06. Nam, Ruffels and Chang are the only Trojans to play in all 22 team rounds this year (in addition to two match play rounds).
* Abdulghany and Ruffels each won both of their matches at East Lake. Abdulghany now stands at 6-2-1 in collegiate match play. Amelia Garvey is 5-2, Ruffels 5-1-1, Chang 3-4 and Nam 1-1. Chang may have had the toughest matchups, squared up against Duke's and Alabama's No. 1 players in last season's NCAA Championships, falling by one hole to each, in addition to falling to Stanford's No. 1 in the East Lake final.
* Ruffels posted her first collegiate victory at the Windy City Collegiate at 10-under 206 (69-66-71), one stroke better than the Sun Devils' Raquel Olmos. Tied after 11 holes, Ruffels went ahead by two strokes with a birdie on 12 while Olmos bogeyed the hole. Olmos pulled to within a stroke with a birdie on 15, but both players parred the final three holes, Ruffels clinching the win with a 4-foot putt. Her final round came on the heels of her 36-hole 9-under opening day, her second round 66 a personal best.
* Ruffels came through with the decisive point at the East Lake Cup, coming from behind to defeat Stanford All-American Andrea Lee, 2&1. She had three top eight finishes in fall play.
* Nam almost won her debut collegiate event, taking second at 12-under 204 (69-66-69) at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate. After starting her final round at 3-over through eight holes, she closed with six birdies over her final 12 holes, her last putt moving her to 12-under with a one-stroke lead. It took a Herculean effort by UCLA's Patty Tavatanakit to beat her. The Bruin, who started the day at 4-under, birdied seven holes in a row on the back nine and closed with an eagle on 18 to out-do Nam's impressive freshman start.
* Nam's 12-under tied her for the second-most under par performance in a 54-hole event in school history, one off the school mark on a 72-par course, and she is just one of five Trojans to post a 204 or lower. Only Irene Cho's 2006 13-under 203 has been better at USC. The last Trojan to post a 204 was then sophomore Karen Chung, who also did it at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate, though at Reunion Resort.
* Nam opened her career with four straight rounds in the 60s. Only four Trojans have had at least eight rounds under 70 in a season, and she has five on the season to go with 10 rounds of par or better. Nam started her career with five straight top 12 finishes, including a tie for third in the lone East Lake Cup round and a 10th at 1-under 212 (67-74-71) at the Stanford Intercollegiate. She has seven top 17 finishes, six in the top 12.
* Chang finished her freshman season with seven straight top 15 results and extended the streak to 11 with a tie for ninth at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate at 6-under 210 (71-69-70), a tie for 11th at the Windy City at par 216 (73-72-71), a tie for fifth at the Stanford Intercollegiate at 4-under 209 (69-71-69) and a tie for ninth at East Lake at 3-over 75. The streak ended with a tie for 28th at the Pac-12 Preview, but she returned to the top 15 with a season-best tie for fourth at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge at 3-over 216 (75-73-68). She earned co-medalist honors at the Clover Cup for her second career first at 2-under 214 (72-72-70).
* Abdulghany secured her first collegiate win on Feb. 12 at the Battle at the Rock in Riverside, Calif., coming from behind to force a playoff after her 4-under 212 (70-74-68) and then winning the playoff on the second hole with a 6-foot birdie. She also finished fourth at the Stanford Intercollegiate at 5-under 208 (67-71-70), her first round and 54-hole finish both collegiate bests. She tied for seventh at the Clover Cup at 5-over 221 (76-74-71).
* Garvey has finished no worse than a tie for 16th in all six starts this year. She posted a collegiate best tie for fifth at the Clover Cup at 4-over 220 (74-73-73), besting her tie for eighth at the Stanford Intercollegiate at 3-under 210 (69-72-69). Her three rounds of 69s are her first of her collegiate career.
* Corpuz returned to the starting lineup for the first time since the Fall at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge and tied for 13th at 6-over 219 (77-69-73), her season-best finish.
2017-2018 Superlatives
Chang earned WGCA All-American second team honors as a freshman last year as well as All-Pac-12 first team honors, leading USC in stroke average (72.43, 17th best in school history) after joining the team for the spring season. She closed the season with seven consecutive top 15 finishes, including one win at the Silverado Showdown and three other top six finishes.
Corpuz claimed WGCA All-American and All-Pac-12 honorable mention notice as a sophomore, finishing second on the squad in stroke average (73.00). Corpuz, whose four rounds in the 60s tied with Chang for most on the team, finished the season with four top 10 results, eight top 17 finishes, including a spring streak of six in a row, and finished tied for 27th or better in 11 of 12 outings. She had 10 rounds under par and 14 rounds of par or better. Her 68 in the single stroke play round of the SDSU March Mayhem led the field.
Abdulghany also earned All-Pac-12 honorable mention honors and finished third on the team in stroke average (73.91), playing all 32 rounds on the season, as did Corpuz. Abdulghany posted a trio of top 10 finishes, seven in the top 19 and nine inside the top 30. She had five rounds under par on the season and nine of par or better.
Ruffels played 23 rounds as a freshman last year, posting a pair of top 7 finishes and three in the top 23. She joined Chang and Garvey with spring starts to their 2018 freshman seasons, all part of USC's postseason run.
USC Athletics
Top-Ranked Trojans Return To PING/ASU Tournament For First Time Since 2015
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Posted: March 28, 2019
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