USC tied for fifth in second day of play

The No. 1-ranked women’s golf team is struggling to find their groove in the Pac-12 tournament, set to conclude Wednesday in Boulder, Colorado.  After two rounds, the Women of Troy are 17-over and 12 shots back of co-leaders Oregon and UCLA.

Heading into the tournament, USC had four wins to accompany seven top-2 finishes.

The first day got off to a rocky start following a delay due to inclement weather.  The day did not get much better for the Women of Troy from there as they finished with a final score of a 9-over 293.  The team was in sixth place after the first round, nine back of leader Oregon who finished shooting an even par round.  They were closely trailed by Stanford at 2-over and UCLA at 3-over.

Sophomore Gabriella Then led the Women of Troy by carding a 1-over 72 in the first round of play Monday.  Her two-birdie round was good enough to tie her for 12th overall.

Freshman Amy Lee is just behind Then, tied for 21st with a score of 2-over.

As the second day of play began to close, USC appeared to be making up some of the lost ground.  The team suffered a massive blow when it gave up six shots over the final three holes.  This setback slotted them into fifth place with a score of  17-over.  Oregon and UCLA are 12 strokes ahead, tied for the lead at 5-over.  Arizona and Washington are just behind the leaders with scores of 6-over and 8-over respectively.  Host Colorado is tied with USC.

Keeping pace with their team performance, the Women of Troy bunched together in the middle of the field.  Sophomore Karen Chung was the best performer of the day with a score of 1-over; however, the score was only good enough to move her into a tie for 25th with an overall score of 6-over.

Then and Lee are tied for 19th at 4-over at the top of the USC leaderboard.  Junior Annie Park is tied for 23rd at 5-over.  Park won the Pac-12 title as a freshman but has yet to find her way in this tournament.

USC is chasing the sixth conference title in program history when the competition wraps up on Wednesday afternoon.