No. 1 USC Ready For Title Run At NCAA Championships

The No. 1 USC women's golf team, a seven-time winner this season under first-year head coach Justin Silverstein and winner of the 2019 Pac-12 and NCAA Cle Elum Regional titles, is set for the final stage of the program's quest for its fourth national title at the 2019 NCAA Championships at The Blessings G.C. in Fayetteville, Ark., May 17-22.

NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS INFO
For the fifth year in a row, the NCAA women's golf team champion will be decided in a combination of stroke and match play. The 24 teams will compete in 72 holes of stroke play, the top 15 advancing to a final round (May 20), where the individual winner will be determined as well. The top eight teams after 72 holes will be seeded into a match-play format. Quarterfinals and semifinals will be held on May 21 and the final will be May 22.

Action begins at 5:15 a.m. PT Friday through Sunday (May 17-19). Monday's final individual round starts at approximately 9 a.m. PT. Tuesday's match play quarterfinals begin at 5 a.m. PT with semifinals to follow. Wednesday's final match starts at approximately 12:25 p.m. PT.

Golf Channel will televise three days of coverage, starting with the final individual round beginning at 1 p.m. PT. Golf Channel will televise quarterfinal play Tuesday starting at 8 a.m. PT and semifinals will air at 1 p.m. PT. Live coverage of the final round Wednesday will start at 1 p.m. PT.

USC will begin the first round Friday off of 10 at 9:55 a.m. PT, the Trojans paired with fellow high seeds Texas and Duke. The Trojans will tee off in the second round with the Longhorns and Blue Devils on Saturday at 5:15 a.m. off of 1. Teams will be re-seeded for the third and fourth rounds.

Results will be at Golfstat.com.

USC NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS HISTORY
* USC has won three NCAA titles -- spread out five years apart -- in 2003, 2008 and 2013. USC is one of only five schools with at least three NCAA team titles. Arizona State has seven, Duke has six while USC, San Jose State and UCLA have three. The Trojans finished 21 strokes better than Duke in 2013 (the biggest margin at the NCAA Championships since Arizona won by the same amount in 2000), six strokes ahead of UCLA in 2008 and were 15 strokes better than second-place Pepperdine in 2003.
* This is USC's 32nd overall NCAA Championship final appearance and 22nd in a row.
* In addition to winning three titles, the Trojans have finished second five times (2014, 2012, 2010, 2006 and 1994) and also finished third in 2018, 2017 and 2015 (ties for third after semifinal losses in match play) as well as in 2009 and 1986, fourth in 2007, 2000 and 1987, fifth in 1993 and tied for fifth in 2011 and 2016 (the latter an NCAA quarterfinal loss).
* USC has a national-best streak of 13 straight top 5 finishes. USC's combined 19 NCAA top 5 finishes are the most nationally and are one ahead of UCLA and Arizona State.
* USC has made it to the NCAA Championships match play bracket each of the first four years since it was instituted, one of just two teams to do so (Stanford is the other).
* USC is 3-4 in the NCAA match play format since it started. It beat Washington in the quarterfinals in 2015 before falling to eventual champion Stanford. In 2016, USC fell to Duke in the quarterfinals. In 2017, USC defeated Ohio State in the quarters before losing to Northwestern in the semifinals, 3-2. In 2018, USC beat Duke, 3-1-1, and then lost to Alabama by the same score.
* USC's seven NCAA match-play matches are second most behind Stanford's 10 and its three wins are tied for the second most behind Stanford's seven.
* USC recently finished in the top 2 in the stroke play standings four years in a row (2012-2015) before a third in 2016. USC has finished in stroke play top 2 in five of the past nine years, including the NCAA title in 2013 and a first in 2015 – the first season when the champion was decided in the match play format. It has also finished in the top 3 in stroke play in nine of the past 11 years.
* The Trojans' second-place finishes in 2010 (Purdue, one stroke), 2012 (Alabama, one stroke) and 2014 (Duke, two strokes) were by a combined four strokes.
* USC has won five NCAA individual titles, including Jennifer Rosales in 1998, Mikaela Parmlid in 2003 (in a one-hole playoff), Dewi Claire Schreefel in 2006, Annie Park in 2013 and Doris Chen in 2014. The last school to post back-to-back individual titles was Duke in 2001-02. No school has won it three straight years and no player has won it twice.
* USC's five individual titles are second in the NCAA behind only Arizona State. In addition to its five individual champions, USC players have posted 10 other top five finishes. Jennifer Song (2009) was second, Paola Moreno (2007) tied for second, Irene Cho (2003), Candie Kung (2001) and Dana Arnold (1990) all tied for third, Jill McGill (1994) and Belen Mozo (2008) finished fourth, Rosales tied for fourth (1999) and Leila Chartrand (2000) and Song (2010) tied for fifth.
* The NCAA title in 2008 was USC's fourth consecutive tournament win at the time, a then-first in program history.
* USC had five All-Americans in 2008 for the first time in school history (Dewi Claire Schreefel, Paola Moreno, Belen Mozo, Stefanie Endstrasser, Lizette Salas) while all five of USC's finishers at the 2013 NCAAs finished in the top 17.
* Rosales was 9-under par after three rounds in 1998 while Park did the same in 2013, tying for the best score in NCAA Championship history through three rounds with two others.
* USC's best combined round at an NCAA Championships is 270 in the final round in 2014. That score – also a school record – shattered the recently set mark of 276, set in the second round in 2013.
* Troy's best individual round at an NCAA Championships is 65 by Sophia Popov, also carded in the 2014 NCAA Championships final round. The previous best was a 66, carded by Rosales during her title run in 1998.
* The Trojans finished at 19-under 1133 (284-276-285-288) in their 2013 win, shattering the previous NCAA Championship record for most strokes under par, which was previously four (UCLA, 2004).
* Four different Pac-12 teams have won the NCAA title for the last four years, including Arizona (2018), Arizona State (2017), Washington (2016) and Stanford (2015). Add USC in 2013 and UCLA in 2011, that's six different Pac-12-winning teams in the last eight NCAA Championships. ASU also won it in 2009 and USC took it in 2008, giving the Pac-12 eight titles in the past 11 years.

TEAM OVERVIEW
The Trojans, who reached their second straight NCAA Championships semifinal appearance in May as well as the 13^th consecutive top 5 finish, are now under Silverstein's leadership after the former Trojan associate head coach took over for Andrea Gaston, USC's long-time coach who departed Troy during the off-season to become head coach at Texas A&M.

Silverstein, who served under Gaston for four years before spending the past two seasons as the associate head coach with the USC men's squad, helped lead the USC women to the 2013 NCAA crown as well as top 5 finishes the three following seasons.

The Trojan squad has acclimated quickly to the new leadership with seven wins and top 3 finishes in all 12 starts. The team won its three October tournaments, including repeating as East Lake Cup champions in Atlanta. That followed a win at the Stanford Intercollegiate by a commanding 15-stroke margin that saw four Trojans finish in the top 10. USC began the streak with a win at the Windy City Collegiate by five strokes at the start of the month, which also saw sophomore Gabriela Ruffels capture her first career title at 10-under 206 (69-66-71).

USC captured its first spring win with a 16-stroke victory at the Clover Cup where sophomore Jennifer Chang tied for first at 2-under 214 (72-72-70) and then posted a dramatic come-from-behind victory at the PING/ASU Invitational, winning by a stroke at 5-under 859 (293-287-279). The Trojans bagged their sixth win with a wire-to-wire performance at the 2019 Pac-12 Championships, winning by 11 strokes at 1-under 851 (283-286-282) with four golfers finishing in the top 7. The Trojans made it seven by winning their NCAA-best 13^th regional crown by taking the Cle Elum Regional by 11 strokes at 20-under 844 (281-285-278).

USC returned all five starters from the squad that made the NCAA semifinal run last year including Ruffels and fellow sophomores Chang, Amelia Garvey and Alyaa Abdulghany as well as junior Allisen Corpuz. Also back this season are juniors Divya Manthena and Leong, who both saw action last year. Manthena, in fact, was a starter on a pair of fall wins.

Leading the newcomers is freshman starter Malia Nam, from Kailua, Hawaii. She is joined by freshmen in Katherine Muzi from Walnut, Calif., and Georgia Carr, from Milltown, Ireland.

2018-19 STARTING LINEUPS

ANNIKA Intercollegiate:                                 Corpuz-Abdulghany-Chang-Ruffels-Nam
Windy City Collegiate:                                    Corpuz-Leong -Chang-Ruffels-Nam
Stanford Intercollegiate:                                Abdulghany-Chang-Ruffels-Garvey-Nam
East Lake Cup:                                                Abdulghany-Chang-Ruffels-Garvey-Nam
Pac-12 Preview:                                              Abdulghany-Chang-Ruffels-Garvey-Nam
Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge:      Corpuz-Chang-Ruffels-Garvey-Nam
Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate:             Corpuz-Chang-Ruffels-Garvey-Nam
Clover Cup:                                                     Corpuz-Chang-Ruffels-Garvey-Nam
PING/ASU:                                                     Abdulghany-Chang-Ruffels-Garvey-Nam
Silverado Showdown:                                  Ruffels-Garvey-Nam-Leong-Muzi
Pac-12 Championships:                                 Chang-Nam-Ruffels-Corpuz-Abdulghany
NCAA Cle Elum Regional:                              Chang-Nam-Ruffels-Corpuz-Abdulghany
NCAA Championships:                                   Abdulghany-Chang-Ruffels-Garvey-Nam

TROJANS IN THE SPOTLIGHT
* Sophomore Jennifer Chang was among 10 finalists on the WGCA Player of the Year Watch List released on May 14 while freshman Malia Nam was among six listed on the WGCA Freshman of the Year Watch List.

* Chang is also among 10 finalists for the 2019 ANNIKA Award.

* Junior Allisen Corpuz and sophomores Alyaa Abdulghany and Chang played in the inaugural Augusta National Women's Amateur Championship. USC's trio earned their berths by being among the top 30 Americans based on the Women's World Amateur Golf Rankings end of the year results. The international field consists of 72 golfers competing over 54 holes of stroke play, with a cut after two rounds.

* Corpuz made the 36-hole cut to advance to Saturday's final round. She tied for 21^st at 3-over 147 (75-72) and was part of an 11-woman playoff to eliminate one golfer. Corpuz made a tap-in par on the first playoff hole to clinch her spot in the final 30-woman field. Abdulghany tied for 40^th at 6-over 150 (75-75) while Chang tied for 57^th at 10-over 154 (78-76), both missing the cut.

* Chang and freshman Malia Nam were named to the U.S. team for the 2019 Arnold Palmer Cup hosted by The Alotian Club in Roland, Arkansas, June 7-9. Other Trojans who were in the Arnold Cup Rankings prior to the team selections on March 5 were Abdulghany on the U.S. side and Australian Gabriela Ruffels and New Zealand's Amelia Garvey on the international list.

* Chang and Ruffels finished first and second, respectively, at the Rancho Santa Fe G.C. qualifier on April 29 to secure spots in the 2019 U.S. Women's Open later this year. Five other Trojans turned in top 15 qualifying efforts. Chang earned medalist honors today with a 36-hole 143 (70-73) to qualify for her second straight U.S. Open while Ruffels was second at even 144 (72-72). With their finish, they earned amateur exemptions into the 2019 U.S. Women's Open, May 30-June 2, at the Country Club of Charleston in Charleston, S.C.

Nam finished fourth at the same qualifier at 3-over 147 (71-76). Also that day, Corpuz tied for sixth at her qualifier at the Contra Costa C.C. at even 144 (71-73), two back of second, while Abdulghany tied for 13^th there at 3-over 147 (76-71). Earlier, Garvey took fourth at the Industry Hills G.C. qualifier in the City of Industry at 6-under 138 (72-66), finishing two shots back. Freshman teammate Katherine Muzi tied for ninth there at 2-over 146 (71-75).

* Chang is ranked No. 3 in the latest Golfstat rankings while Nam is No. 16, Abdughany is No. 20 Garvey is No. 23, Ruffels is No. 29, and Corpuz is No. 78.

2018-19 Team Highlights
* USC's wins at the Windy City, Stanford Intercollegiate, East Lake Cup, Clover Cup, PING/ASU, Pac-12 Championships and NCAA Cle Elum Regional are the first seven for new head coach Justin Silverstein. The trio of consecutive fall wins was USC's first three-event win streak since also winning three straight in the 2018 spring. The last time USC enjoyed a longer win streak was a four-tournament stretch in the spring of 2014 … USC has now won at least four tournaments in six of the past seven season.

* Chang, Ruffels, Nam and Garvey all earned 2019 All-Pac-12 first team honors, the second career honor for Chang. Abdulghany and Corpuz claimed honorable mention notice, the second in a row for both.

* Troy's seven wins matches its total in 2013 for the second most in program history behind only its record nine wins in 2014.

* Justin Silverstein is the first coach in NCAA Division I history to win seven tournaments in his debut season as a head coach. He passed Greg Allen, who began his head coaching career at Arizona in 2000-01 with six wins. In addition to Silverstein and Allen, Colette Murray, as a first-year head coach in the Tennessee-Chattanooga program's first year, won five tournaments in 2007-08.

* USC currently has four starters with stroke averages of 72.53 or better, a first since the 2015-16 season,

* USC's first-round, 12-under 272 at the Stanford Intercollegiate is tied for the fourth-best round in program history. Only a 270 at the 2014 NCAAs and a pair of 271s at the 2015 ANNIKA Intercollegiate and the 2015 Arizona Wildcat Invitational have been better. The 272 ties USC's 2013 Stanford Intercollegiate best effort.

* Troy's 16-stroke win at the Clover Cup is its biggest margin of victory since winning the Gold Rush at Old Ranch C.C. by 18 strokes in February of 2016. USC also won the Stanford Intercollegiate and the NCAA Cle Elum Regional by 15 strokes.

* USC repeated as East Lake Cup champions with the same outcome as last year's final, a 3-2 win over Stanford. That followed a 4-1 win over defending NCAA champion Arizona in the semifinal and a second-place finish in the solo stroke play round to determine seeding. It is Troy's third title in the event's four-year history.

* USC's final-round 282 at the Pac-12 Championships tied its second-best effort ever at the Palos Verdes G.C.

* USC is 66-8 against Top 25 teams. No other school has more than 40 Top 25 "wins". The Trojans are also 97-9 against Top 50 schools and 132-10-1 against the top 100.

2018-19 Player Highlights
* Sophomore Jennifer Chang leads USC in stroke average (71.58) through 31 rounds, currently fifth for season stroke average in school history. Sophomore Alyaa Abdulghany is second on the team (72.12) through 25 rounds while freshman Malia Nam is third (72.29) with 34 rounds. Sophomore Gabriela Ruffels is fourth (72.53) with 34 rounds while sophomore Amelia Garvey is fifth at 73.14. Nam and Ruffels are the only Trojans to play in all 34 team rounds this year (in addition to two match play rounds).

* Abdulghany and Ruffels each won both of their matches at East Lake. Abdulghany now stands at 6-2-1 in collegiate match play. Amelia Garvey is 5-2, Ruffels 5-1-1, Chang 3-4 and Nam 1-1. Chang may have had the toughest matchups, squared up against Duke's and Alabama's No. 1 players in last season's NCAA Championships, falling by one hole to each, in addition to falling to Stanford's No. 1 in the East Lake final.

* Ruffels posted her first collegiate victory at the Windy City Collegiate at 10-under 206 (69-66-71), one stroke better than the Sun Devils' Raquel Olmos. Tied after 11 holes, Ruffels went ahead by two strokes with a birdie on 12 while Olmos bogeyed the hole. Olmos pulled to within a stroke with a birdie on 15, but both players parred the final three holes, Ruffels clinching the win with a 4-foot putt. Her final round came on the heels of her 36-hole 9-under opening day, her second round 66 a personal best.

* Ruffels came close to her second first and a share of the Pac-12 crown, finishing third at the conference tournament at 3-under 210 (70-72-68), finishing one back of a playoff. Her next best finish is a tie for seventh at the Silverado Showdown, tying for seventh at 3-over 219 (72-72-75).

* Ruffels, who has five top 10s and eight top 16 results this season, came through with the decisive point at the East Lake Cup, coming from behind to defeat Stanford All-American Andrea Lee, 2&1. She had three top eight finishes in fall play.

* Nam almost won her debut collegiate event, taking second at 12-under 204 (69-66-69) at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate. After starting her final round at 3-over through eight holes, she closed with six birdies over her final 12 holes, her last putt moving her to 12-under with a one-stroke lead. It took a Herculean effort by UCLA's Patty Tavatanakit to beat her. The Bruin, who started the day at 4-under, birdied seven holes in a row on the back nine and closed with an eagle on 18 to out-do Nam's impressive freshman start.

* Nam's 12-under tied her for the second-most under par performance in a 54-hole event in school history, one off the school mark on a 72-par course, and she is just one of five Trojans to post a 204 or lower. Only Irene Cho's 2006 13-under 203 has been better at USC. The last Trojan to post a 204 was then sophomore Karen Chung, who also did it at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate, though at Reunion Resort.

* Nam opened her career with four straight rounds in the 60s. Only four Trojans have had at least eight rounds under 70 in a season, and she has five on the season to go with 10 rounds of par or better. Nam started her career with five straight top 12 finishes, including a tie for third in the lone East Lake Cup round and a 10^th at 1-under 212 (67-74-71) at the Stanford Intercollegiate.

* Nam tied for second at the Silverado Showdown at par 216 (71-75-70) and tied for seventh in USC's win at the Clover Cup at 5-over 221 (73-74-74), part of her eight top 17 finishes, seven in the top 12 and four in the top 7. She has a team-high-tying seven rounds in the 60s, tied for fifth-most on USC's all-time season chart.

* Chang is USC's first two-time season winner since Kyung Kim in 2014. She earned co-medalist honors at the Clover Cup on March 17 for her second career first at 2-under 214 (72-72-70) and captured her third career title at the NCAA Cle Elum Regional at 11-under 205 (70-67-68). Her 54-hole total at the Regional is tied for the fifth best total in school history.

* On the season, Chang has eight top 9 finishes and nine in the top 11 to go with a team-high tying seven rounds in the 60s. In addition to her two wins, other top finishes include ties for fourth at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge at 3-over 216 (75-73-68) and at the PING/ASU at 6-under 210 (72-66-72). She tied for fifth at the Stanford Intercollegiate at 4-under 209 (69-71-69) and was sixth at the Pac-12 Championships at 1-over 214 (71-71-72).

* Chang finished her freshman season with seven straight top 15 results and extended the streak to 11 with a tie for ninth at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate at 6-under 210 (71-69-70), a tie for 11^th at the Windy City at par 216 (73-72-71), her tie for fifth at Stanford and a tie for ninth at East Lake at 3-over 75. The streak ended with a tie for 28^th at the Pac-12 Preview.

* Chang has 11 career rounds under 70 in three semesters of play, tied for ninth on USC's all-time list. Her seven rounds this year are tied for fifth on USC's all-time season list along with Nam.

* Abdulghany, who has five top 10s and seven top 13s this season, secured her first collegiate win on Feb. 12 at the Battle at the Rock in Riverside, Calif., coming from behind to force a playoff after her 4-under 212 (70-74-68) and then winning the playoff on the second hole with a 6-foot birdie.

* Abdulghany is riding a streak of five straight top 15 finishes and has a pair of top 7s in postseason play this year with a tie for seventh at the NCAA Cle Elum Regional at 5-under 211 (70-72-69) and seventh at the Pac-12 Championships at 2-over 215 (70-74-71).

* The streak also includes a tie for 13^th at the PING/ASU Invitational at 1-under 215 (74-71-70), a tie for seventh at the Clover Cup at 5-over 221 (76-74-71) and her win at Battle at the Rock. In the final, she finished fourth at the Stanford Intercollegiate at 5-under 208 (67-71-70), her first round and 54-hole finish both collegiate bests. Her birdie on 18 at the PING/ASU in the final round clinched the tournament for the Trojans.

* Garvey has finished no worse than a tie for 16^th in seven of eight starts this year. She posted a collegiate best tie for fifth at the Clover Cup at 4-over 220 (74-73-73), besting her tie for eighth at the Stanford Intercollegiate at 3-under 210 (69-72-69). She fired a collegiate-best 5-under 67 to tie for 11^th at the Silverado Showdown at 5-over 221 (78-76-67) to complement three rounds of 69s this year.

* Corpuz returned to the starting lineup for the first time since the Fall at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge and tied for 13^th at 6-over 219 (77-69-73). She posted a season best seventh as an individual entry at the PING/ASU at 4-under 212 (71-71-70).

* Corpuz followed her seventh at PING with a fifth at the Pac-12 Championships at 1-over 214 (73-69-71). She has three top 13s this year, five inside the top 25.

* Leong posted a season-best tie for 11^th at the Clover Cup at 7-over 223 (74-74-75) and started at the Silverado Showdown, which included a season-best 71 in the first round. Freshman Katherine Muzi made her first collegiate start at the Silverado Showdown and posted two counting round. She had a season-best 72 at the UCI Invitational.

2017-2018 Superlatives
Chang earned WGCA All-American second team honors as a freshman last year as well as All-Pac-12 first team honors, leading USC in stroke average (72.43, 17^th best in school history) after joining the team for the spring season. She closed the season with seven consecutive top 15 finishes, including one win at the Silverado Showdown and three other top six finishes.

Corpuz claimed WGCA All-American and All-Pac-12 honorable mention notice as a sophomore, finishing second on the squad in stroke average (73.00). Corpuz, whose four rounds in the 60s tied with Chang for most on the team, finished the season with four top 10 results, eight top 17 finishes, including a spring streak of six in a row, and finished tied for 27^th or better in 11 of 12 outings. She had 10 rounds under par and 14 rounds of par or better. Her 68 in the single stroke play round of the SDSU March Mayhem led the field.

Abdulghany also earned All-Pac-12 honorable mention honors and finished third on the team in stroke average (73.91), playing all 32 rounds on the season, as did Corpuz. Abdulghany posted a trio of top 10 finishes, seven in the top 19 and nine inside the top 30. She had five rounds under par on the season and nine of par or better.

Ruffels played 23 rounds as a freshman last year, posting a pair of top 7 finishes and three in the top 23. She joined Chang and Garvey with spring starts to their 2018 freshman seasons, all part of USC's postseason run.

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Players Mentioned

Alyaa Abdulghany

Georgia Carr

Allisen Corpuz

Amelia Garvey

Divya Manthena

Katherine Muzi

Malia Nam

Gabriela Ruffels