Women’s golf ties for fourth in tournament


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The USC women’s golf team wrapped up their regular season over the weekend as it competed in the Ping/ASU Invitational, hosted by ASU in Tempe.  USC was hot heading into the desert coming off two straight wins.

Following one day of action, the team had carded an overall score of 1-over 289, which placed them in seventh.  The Women of Troy were five shots back of leader Arkansas and three behind second place Duke.

Junior Annie Park and freshman Amy Lee came into the clubhouse following 1-under 71s.  Both women were tied for 14th following the first day of play.  Their rounds included four birdies each and a strong back nine on which they went 1-under.

On the second day of action, Park fired off a 6-under score of 67 to lead USC into fifth place with an overall score of par 576, however, the Women of Troy remained a distant 12 shots behind new leader ASU.

With the six birdie round, Park grabbed a share of the lead.  Park now has 21 rounds of shooting in the 60s, tying her with teammate, junior Kyung Kim for most on the team this season.  Both women are only one round shy of tying the school record which is 22.

Heading into the final day of action, Park was searching for her seventh career win.  Park already owns the record for most wins in school history.  Park fell short of her hopes though finishing third overall in the tournament.  Park finished the tournament at 5-under 211.

After getting off to a rough start that included three bogeys on the front nine, Park battled back with three back nine birdies regaining her share of the lead until a final bogey on hole 17 dropped her to one shot back.  Park now has three top-5 finishes on the year.

The other Trojan to have considerable success in the tournament was sophomore Gabriella Then who finished tied for sixth with a score of 2-under 214.  The finish is Then’s fourth top-10 finish in the last five events.

USC finished the tournament with a combined score of 6-over 870 which was nine back of first place Arizona.  Host ASU finished at 4-over, good enough for a second place tie with Baylor.  USC and the other USC (University of South Carolina) tied for fourth overall.

Senior Doris Chen made her spring debut for USC and finished tied for 39th at 6-over 222.  Following her strong day one performance, Lee slipped to 7-over 223 and tied for 45th.  Sophomore Karen Chung finished tied for 66th at 12-over 228.  The Ping/ASU Invitational was the final regular season competition for the Women of Troy.

USC will begin its postseason quest for a national championship starting April 20-22 in Boulder, Colorado, at the Pac-12 Championships.