USC Women's Golf Opens 2022-23 Campaign At Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational

The USC women's golf team, ranked No. 12 in the WGCA preseason poll, kicks off the 2022-23 season at the Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational at the University of New Mexico G.C. in Albuquerque, N.M., Monday and Tuesday (Sept. 12-13).

The 17-team field includes host New Mexico, Cal Poly, Charlotte, Denver, Fresno State, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Kent State, Northwestern, Ohio State, San Diego State, SMU, Texas Tech, UNLV and USC.

Play will begin with a shotgun start Monday (Sept. 12) at 7:30 a.m., kicking off 36 holes. Tuesday's final round also starts with a 7:30 a.m. shotgun start.

This is the same course that USC played on when it won the 2008 NCAA Championship.

Results will be available at Golfstat.com. USC last played in the event in 2008, finishing second while Dewi Claire Schreefel won the individual title.

The Trojans are led by fifth-year head coach Justin Silverstein and first-year assistant coach Tiffany Joh, the All-American first-teamer and LPGA star from UCLA now in her second year of collegiate coaching.

USC returns seven golfers from last year's team that posted a trio of wins, captured the 2022 NCAA Stanford Regional and finished 10th at the NCAA Championships, just outside of match play.

Starting in the season opener will be sophomore Amari Avery, junior Brianna Navarrosa, sophomore Xin (Cindy) Kou, redshirt senior Malia Nam and freshman Catherine Park. Junior Christine Wang will play as an individual.

Avery returns following her All-American first-team debut as a 2021-22 freshman — which saw her win three times — while Nam, also an All-American as a freshman, is back after missing last season due to injury. Kou was Pac-12 honorable mention last year and started all 13 events, as did the ever-improving Navarrosa, while Park will make her debut in Cardinal and Gold.

USC saw just one departure from last season as fifth-year senior and All-Pac-12 honorable mention pick Katherine Muzi transferred for her final season to South Carolina.