USC Women's Golf Off To Fast Start At NCAA Stanford Regional

Freshman Amari Avery fired her team-best eighth-round in the 60s - a 2-under 69 - while sophomores Brianna Navarrosa and Michaela Morard carded 70s to lead the No. 8 USC women's golf team to within a shot of first after 18 holes of the NCAA Stanford (Calif.) Regional at the Stanford G.C. on Monday (May 9).

USC combined for a 4-under 280 — its fourth-best round of the year in relation to par — and sits one stroke back of first-place LSU while host Stanford is third at 1-under with Purdue fourth at 3-over.

Only the top four teams from each of the six 12-team NCAA Regionals will advance to the NCAA Championships final set for the Grayhawk G.C. in Scottsdale, Ariz., hosted by Arizona State, May 20-25. This is the first year of this format.

The Trojans got off to a strong start in their bid to return to the NCAA Finals for the 24th season in a row thanks to contributions from all five starters.

Avery's 69 — which ties her for third on USC's all-time season chart for rounds in the 60s — is good for a tie for third and two back of first. Bogeys on 7 and 9 left her at 1-over at the turn but she evened her round with a birdie on 10 and got to 2-under with two more on 12 and 15.

Navarrosa and Morard are tied for eighth at 1-under. Navarrosa's round matched a season-best score thanks to a three-birdie, two-bogey effort, her seventh round under par this season. Morard got off to a 3-under start but saw it leveled after a triple on 6. She responded, however, with a 1-under back 9 for her eighth round of par or better.

Freshman Xin (Cindy) Kou posted her 14th round of par or better with an even 71 — her first par round since March 15 — and is tied for 12th. She birdied 12 and only bogeyed 18.

Senior Katherine Muzi got off to a slow 4-over start at the turn, but steadied her play and closed with a 2-under back 9 and is tied for 22nd at 2-over..

The regional continues Tuesday and Wednesday, starting at 8 a.m. PT both days.