Top-ranked women’s golf earns victory at Gold Rush


By
 in ,

In a crowded field of fifteen schools at the Gold Rush in Seal Beach, the No. 1 USC women’s golf team stood head and shoulders above the rest.

Led by strong efforts from freshman Robynn Ree, sophomore Amy Lee and junior Tiffany Chan, the Trojans were the only team to finish the three-round tournament under par, finishing -1 after two days of action. Each of their round scores was better than any competitor’s, including a stellar finish of 285 in the second round.

The tournament’s runner-up — Fresno State — posted a +17, followed by host school Long Beach State, which finished at +26.. No.25 Brigham Young University, the only other ranked school, posted a +29, good for fifth in the tournament. USC was the only Pac-12 school to participate in the tournament.

Ree led the pack with a -4. She was consistent each round, posting scores of 70 and 71 on Monday and followed that performance with a score of 71 to finish out the tournament on Tuesday. Chan tied with Long Beach State’s Haley Tygret for the best single-round score when she finished with an impressive score of 68 in the second round.

Lee, the only Trojan competing as an individual, finished second overall in the tournament with a -3. Her score did not count toward the Trojans’ final tally.

Ree led the field for the entirety of the tournament, but some other Trojans weren’t as consistent. Junior Karen Chung fell four spots in the final round with a +4 finish, and senior Kyung Kim dropped nine spots with a +6. Gabriella Then, USC’s final golfer, finished at +10. Then, despite having the highest total on the team, still finished tied for 23rd in the tournament — USC was the only school to have all golfers finish in the top 25.

USC’s victory at the Gold Rush was the team’s third team title this season; they opened the season with a win at the Annika Intercollegiate and finished the fall season with a team victory in the East Lake Cup. Ree’s first-place finish was the second individual championship for a Trojan this season.

The Trojans set their sights now on the Darius Rucker Invitational, which will take place during the first week of March in Hilton Head, South Carolina.