Women of Troy take second place in opener
The No. 6 USC women’s golf team came close, but just missed the hole for first at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge in Palos Verdes, Calif. It was the team’s first match of the spring semester.
The Women of Troy went 4-over 288 (287-292-288) on the final round for a 15-over 867 finish, but it wasn’t enough to catch Baylor with an 11-over 863. No. 13 Arizona placed third with a 28-over 880.
The Women of Troy won this event last year with an 866. While they did place second, they played hard throughout the day and cut down a 10-stroke deficit to three by the end of the day, coming up just short of beating the Bears. Freshman standout Amy Lee completed her debut collegiate match with a 2-under 211 (68-72-71) third-place finish. Only three-back from the individual winner Bronte Law, a sophomore at UCLA, Lee proved to be a promising asset for the Women of Troy on the course. On the final round, Lee golfed even on both the front and the back nine, having a birdie and bogey on each.
Along with Lee, sophomores Gabriella Then, Karen Chung, Elizabeth Doty and junior Kyung Kim all turned in good final rounds for USC.
Then had a 2-under 69 on the final day to place 10th with a 3-over 216 (73-74-69) to earn her second-best collegiate appearance. In her final round, Then had four birdies and went 2-under on the back nine.
Kim tied for 13th with a 6-over 219 (72-72-75). In each of her three matches this year, she has finished in the top 14. For her final day she was one-over on the front nine and had three birdies on the round. As a 2013 and 2014 All-American first team, she will be intergral to the team’s 2015 national title run. She will also be competing to become the first ever USC player to earn All-American first team honors three times.
Chung tied for 18th overall with a eight-over 221 (74-74-73). This was the fourth time this season that Chung placed in the top-20.
Both Doty and junior Victoria Morgan — playing individually — tied for 66th with a 19-over 232.
Morgan’s number was called three times last season, twice as a starter and finished 2014 with an average stroke of 76.
Missing on the course for the Women of Troy were senior Doris Chen and junior Annie Park. Chen and Park are the defending NCAA individual national champions, 2014 and 2013, respectively.
Chen, who hails from Bradenton, Florida, is a three-time All-American, who is looking to build on her successes as a national champion and the 2012 Pac-12 individual champion with another title in her final season with the team.
In her three seasons at USC, Chen has finished outside the top 30 in only four collegiate events and has posted 10 career rounds in the 60s, as of the beginning of this season.
Even though they won the event last year, finishing second revealed that the Women of Troy could still find success with the young girls on the course for this year’s Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge.
The Women of Troy have a bright season ahead of them. Lee, specifically, could follow in the footsteps of Park, as both women graduated high school a semester early and debuted their collegiate careers at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge.
Other than the six players at the Northrop Grumman, junior Kim Santiago and junior So Young Hwang were out on the course at the Matador Invitational in Northridge. Santiago tied for second with an 11-over 227 (71-76-80) and Hwang tied for 10th with a 17-over 233 (75-76-82).
The Women of Troy will remain in California for their next match. The Women of Troy will next head down to Santa Ana Community College for the UC Irvine Invitational, which will take place Feb. 23-24.