No. 1 USC Readies For Stanford Intercollegiate
October 15, 2015 | Women's Golf
The No. 1 USC women's golf team, a one-time winner this young season and led by two-time top 2 finisher junior Karen Chung, travels up the California coast this week to play at the Stanford Intercollegiate, Sunday through Tuesday (Oct. 18-20) at the Stanford G.C.
The Trojans kicked off the 2015-16 campaign with an impressive victory, capturing the Annika Intercollegiate at a school-record 36-under with a 23-stroke margin of victory. Chung claimed her third career collegiate title at 12-under 204 (68-68-68), the second-lowest 54-hole total in school history. USC followed it with a fifth-place finish at the Windy City Collegiate where Chung tied for second.
The 17-team field for the 54-hole event includes No. 1 USC, No. 3 Georgia, No. 4 Northwestern, No. 6 Arizona, No. 9 Stanford, No. 12 UCLA, No. 13 Arizona State, No. 15 Iowa State, No. 21 Washington, No. 22 Vanderbilt, No. 28 Oregon, No. 35 Auburn, No. 43 California, Pepperdine, San Jose State, UC Davis and Washington State.
USC has won the event twice, in 2012 and 2013. Senior Kyung Kim won the individual title in 2012, joining Trojan winner Jennifer Song (2009) and Lizette Salas (2008).
Chung and fellow junior Tiffany Chan enter the tournament ranked No. 2 and 10, respectively, in the nation. Host Stanford eliminated USC in the 2015 NCAA Championships match play semifinals en route to the team title.
Teams will tee off at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday and Monday and at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday. Results will be available at Birdiefire.com.
USC OUTLOOK IN BRIEF
USC is led by senior three-time All-American Kyung Kim and junior All-Americans Gabriella Then and Karen Chung and is coming off its 10th straight NCAA Championships top 5 finish.
The Trojans return seven golfers from last year, including four who helped Troy reach the 2015 NCAA Championships match play semifinals in the first year the NCAA title was not decided by stroke play. USC finished atop the field after 72 holes of stroke play and won its quarterfinal match against Washington but fell to eventual winner Stanford in the semifinals.
Kim, Then, Chung and sophomore Amy Lee are USC's returning quartet of golfers who played in last year's NCAA Championships while Kim is the last Trojan left on the squad who played on the Trojans' 2013 NCAA title team, the program's third.
Other returning veterans include seniors Victoria Morgan and Kim Santiago and junior Elizabeth Doty.
USC, under 20th-year coach Andrea Gaston, welcomes three talented newcomers who will all challenge for playing time, including junior college transfer Tiffany Chan and freshmen Robynn Ree and Isabel Ji.
Chan, originally from Hong Kong, won back-to-back NJACC national individual titles in her two years at Daytona State College while leading her school to the 2014 national title as a freshman. Ree was the third-ranked player in last year's senior class while Ji, from China, brings tremendous international experience to the team.
USC NOTES
* Senior Kyung Kim begins her senior year tied for second on USC's career chart in rounds in the 60s (21), one out of first, to go with three career wins (tied for sixth). She is also fourth on USC's career stroke average chart at 72.53, second among Trojans who have played at least three seasons.
* The Trojans have put together an impressive amount of wins over the past three-plus seasons. USC has finished first in 18 of its past 31 outings, 21 of 35 and 22 of 37 dating back to the fall of 2012.
* USC won five times last year, marking the third straight year it has won at least that many events. USC won nine times in 2014 and seven in 2013. Troy has also won at least four events in six of the past eight years.
* Junior Karen Chung had three rounds in the 60s for all of the 2014-15 season, a total she matched in USC's season-opener and then surpassed after opening her second tournament with one more.
* USC's 36-under (828=276-271-281) performance at the Annika Intercollegiate lowered USC's record for under par by six strokes. The previous record was 30-under at the Arizona Wildcat Intercollegiate last season. Eight of USC's 15 rounds were in the 60s. The second-round 271 tied USC's second-lowest team round ever.
* Chung is the first Trojan to string together three straight rounds in the 60s in the same 54-hole event since Kyung Kim opened the 2013-14 season in the same fashion. Doris Chen also had three rounds in the 60s at the close of that same season, but it was as part of the 72-hole NCAA Championships.
EVENT RECAPS
ANNIKA INTERCOLLEGIATE
No. 2 USC women's golf team completed one of its most dominating performances in school history at the season-opening Annika Intercollegiate, winning by 23 strokes at a school-record 36-under while junior Karen Chung won the individual title at 12-under on a rain-soaked final round in Orlando, Fla., on Sept. 29. The Trojans, against a field packed with many of the top teams in the nation, placed four golfers in the top 7 to win at 36-under 828 (276-271-281), 23 strokes better than second-place Arizona (851) and five off the NCAA record of 41-under. USC was not quite as hot as its school-record tying second-round, due in part to off-and-on downpours, but still managed to post the low round of the day as it won its second season-opener in three seasons. Chung claimed her third career collegiate title at 12-under 204 (68-68-68), the second-lowest 54-hole total in school history, coming from behind to edge freshman teammate Robynn Ree, who took second at 10-under 206 (68-66-72).
WINDY CITY COLLEGIATE
Junior Karen Chung followed her season-opening win with a tie for second while junior Tiffany Chan tied for 14th to lead the No. 2 USC women's golf team, which finished fifth at the Windy City Collegiate Championship on Oct. 6 in Chicago. The Trojans, coming off a school-record effort in their season-opening win last week, were in the hunt for a second victory until Tuesday's final holes. USC finished at 8-under 856 (283-283-290), four back of a three-way tie for first between host Northwestern, Arizona and Georgia at 12-under 852. Arizona State was fourth at 11-under 853. Chung, who won at 12-under last week, tied for second at 7-under 209 (68-71-70). It is USC's best back-to-back finishes since senior Kyung Kim opened the 2013-14 season with a win and tied for second at this same event. Chung was 2-under on her back today and was even coming home. She was in the hunt for first before Georgia's Bailey Tardy got hot and won at 12-under 204 (70-67-67). Junior Tiffany Chan tied for 14th at 2-under 214 (69-71-74) while junior Gabriella Then tied for 19th at 1-under 215 (72-70-73), each registering their second straight top 20 finish.
Players Mentioned
