The Wait Is Almost Over: USC Women's Golf Season Starts Monday
The USC women's golf team, which finished the 2019-20 season ranked No. 1 with two consecutive wins, will play its first tournament in more than 11 months when it travels to Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., for the Lamkin Grips San Diego Classic, Monday and Tuesday (Feb. 8-9).
The Trojans, under third-year head coach Justin Silverstein, kick off a new season riding a national-best streak of 14 straight top 5 finishes dating back to the 2019 NCAA Championships and won the most recent Pac-12 Championship in 2019.
"It's been a long 11 months off tournament play and we are so fired up to head out on the road again to play," Silverstein said, "and I want to thank the incredible hard work by our administration and the medical staff to help make this happen.
"Our team has done an incredible job following all the protocols put in place which allow us this opportunity. This roster is full of highly successful veterans mixed with exceptionally talented newcomers and we are excited to compete. We feel like any roster combination we throw out in an event is good enough to win."
USC will kick off the new season with a senior-laden lineup that includes All-Americans Allisen Corpuz, Amelia Garvey and Alyaa Abdulghany as well as junior Katherine Muzi and freshman Brianna Navarrosa.
The 12-team tournament hosted by San Diego State includes - in addition to USC - UCLA, New Mexico, Tulane TCU, Long Beach State, Hawaii, UC Irvine, Washington State, Colorado and Arizona.
Play will begin on The Farms G.C.'s par 72, 6,318-yard course with a 36-hole day starting at 7 a.m. PT on Monday followed by a final round Tuesday. Results will be available at Golfstat.com.
Among the starting five set for tomorrow, Corpuz returns after earning All-American first team honors last year. In addition to leading USC with her (career-best) four top 7 finishes and five in the top 11, Corpuz (also an honorable mention All-American in 2018) topped USC with a 71.57 stroke average, the fifth-best in program history. She finished with a team-high-tying four rounds in the 60s, which gave her 10 for her career, joining a tie for 10th-most in program history.
Abdulghany and Garvey are two time All-American honorable mention picks (2019-20).
Garvey closed last season with three straight fifth-place finishes, including in Troy's final event at the Bruin Wave Invitational, where she was even at 216 (75-69-72). She also tied for fifth at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge at 3-under 210 (69-73-68) -- her final round one off her career best -- and was fifth at the Rebel Beach Intercollegiate at 4-under 212 (73-70-69).
She finished the season second on the team in stroke average with a career-best 72.00 (tied for 11th-best in school history) and her four rounds in the 60s tied Corpuz for team best.
Abdulghany was third on the Trojans with a career-best stroke average of 72.17 (16th-best in school history) last year and was second in rounds of par or better with 12 and was tied for third in rounds in the 60s (three).
She had three top 10s on the season, giving her 11 for her career. She posted a season-best fourth at the Rebel Beach Intercollegiate at 5-under 211 (62-67-72) and followed it with a sixth at the Bruin Wave Invitational at 3-over 219 (71-71-77). Abdulghany posted a then-season-best tie for eighth at the Stanford Intercollegiate at 2-under 211 (70-72-69).
In the off-season, Corpuz was a finalist at the 2020 North & South Amateur Championship, played in the 2020 U.S. Open and represented Team America in the Arnold Palmer Cup.
Garvey played in the U.S. Open as well, just missing the cut, while Abdulghany played against Corpuz in the Arnold Palmer Cup and helped Team International secure the event's title. Abdulghany also reached the semifinals of the 2020 U.S. Women's Amateur.
Muzi's off-season was highlighted by a big win in November, capturing the Golfweek Moorpark Amateur at Moorpark (Calif.) C.C. at 2-under 214 (72-70-72). The victory helped Muzi jump 133 places in the World Amateur Golf Rankings to a career-best 258th.
Rounding out the starting lineup is freshman Brianna Navarrosa from San Diego, who was ranked No. 5 by Rolex AJGA as a 2020 senior and near the top 100 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.