Cindy Kou Finishes 3rd To Lead USC Women's Golf At ANNIKA Invitational

Freshman Xin (Cindy) Kou fired a final-round 5-under 67 - en route to a third-place finish - while sophomore Brianna Navarrosa joined her in the red with a 2-under 70, leading the USC women's golf team to a 5-under as it closed the ANNIKA Invitational at Royal G.C. in Lake Elmo, Minn., on Wednesday (Sept. 15).

The Trojans, playing without a trio of graduated All-Americans for the first time in four seasons, didn't get their third title at the event they were hoping for at the start of the week. They did, however, show resiliency in the final round, closing to within single digits at one point before finishing seventh at 3-over 867 (287-297-283). South Carolina won at 14-under.

"It was great to get out and compete with the fresh, young roster we have," fourth-year Head Coach Justin Silverstein said. "I'm incredibly proud of Cindy for her performance this week. She did a great job being disciplined and preparing her game for this event. I'm very excited to see what she is able to accomplish as a Trojan.

"While we are always disappointed to not accomplish our goal of winning the event, (assistant coach) Katie (Mitchell) and I were able to see our team do some great things. We'll take the next couple weeks to make adjustments and get this roster ready for our next event."

Kou showed no signs of freshman jitters in her debut tournament as a Trojan, taking third at 8-under 208 (68-73-67). It was the most under par in a USC opener since Malia Nam, also as a freshman, took second at the same event at 12-under on Sept. 19, 2018.

She went out at 4-under, including birdies on 15, 17 and 18 and closed at 1-under, finishing just four strokes out of first.

Senior Katherine Muzi (69-75-74) joined Navarrosa (75-73-70) in a tie for 20th at 2-over 220. Navarrosa was 2-under on her first 9 today, including one stretch of three straight birdies. Muzi finished her final six holes at 2-under, including an eagle on the par 4 6th hole.

Sophomore Christine Wang tied for 44th at 9-over 225 (75-77-73) while junior Alexa Melton took 50th at 11-over 227 (78-76-73), both carding tournament-best rounds to finish play.

USC returns to action Oct. 4-5 at the Windy City Collegiate in Chicago.