No. 3 USC women’s golf participated in its first conference tournament of the spring season this week from Monday to Wednesday. The Pac-12 Preview in Hawai‘i featured 54 holes of golf over the span of three days and displayed a competitive field of top golf schools, including No. 2 Stanford and No. 6 UCLA. 

On the first day of tournament play Monday, the Trojans had an incredible start. Freshman Bailey Shoemaker carded six birdies and zero bogeys for the day, resulting in shooting a 67 on the par 73 course. This strong effort, accompanied by the solid performance by junior Amari Avery and senior Brianna Navarrosa, led to USC being tied for the lead with Arizona at 10-under after the first day of golf.

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On the second day of tournament play, the Trojans managed to maintain the momentum and stay within distance of the trophy. Shoemaker made three birdies, but her round was severely impacted by triple bogeys on the second and 15th holes. Despite this, USC was grounded by very solid and consistent rounds by Avery and Navarrosa. USC finished day two at 6-under, only one stroke behind the co-leaders of Stanford and UCLA. 

“We got off to a great start. In the first round [we were] tied for the lead, then after the second day, [we] put ourselves in a really good position to win that golf tournament. So, those are the positive takeaways,” said Head Coach Justin Silverstein in an interview with the Daily Trojan. 

The final day of the tournament posed a challenge for the Trojans, especially on the back nine. USC ended the day 9-over and concluded the three days at 3-over-par to place fourth out of 12 teams. Despite the disappointing finish to the tournament, Avery remained unaffected by the challenging conditions and carded a 3-under final round of 70 to conclude the tournament at an impressive 7-under. Avery tied for second place in the individual standings, just one shot off of UCLA’s junior Zoe Campos. 

“I think it’s some validation for some hard work she’s put in. [Avery] fell into a bit of a ball-striking funk the past few months. She really, really put in a lot of time this winter trying to get that sorted out,” Silverstein said.

Despite the disappointment of the final round, this is just the beginning of the spring campaign for the Trojans as they get back into competition-ready mode.

“It’d been almost four months since some people on our team had played a stroke-play competition … So, we knew we were going to be at a bit of a competition deficit. And we weren’t really competition-ready,” Silverstein said.

Despite this, there are many takeaways and positive lessons that USC will take from this tournament. One major takeaway that Silverstein mentioned was the team needing to be present and focused on each individual task, whether it be on the golf course or in the classroom. 

“Expectations were high, but we’re not going to get to where we want to be unless we get better every day. And I know that sounds like a coach-speak cliche, but for us, it really is important,” Silverstein said.

The Trojans will head up to the San Francisco Bay Area for the Meadow Club Invitational from March 4 to March 5.