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Now that USC has landed its 100th Team National Championship, the Trojans shift their focus from the century mark to the grand prize of 125 Total National Championships (122) and the Women of Troy can be the first championship squad to tee off on this historic and monumental goal.
The No. 1 seed and defending national champion USC Women's Golf begins "Moving Day" in the NCAA Women's Golf Tournament in Tulsa, Oklahoma begins the 3rd round of play tied for fourth overall with UCLA and Arizona at +24. After getting off to a rough start in the opening round of play, Andrea Gaston's squad responded with a strong second round.
OVERALL LEADERBOARD THROUGH TWO ROUNDS
| 1 |
|
+15 | 0 - 0 | E | 288 | 287 | - | 575 | ||
| 2 |
|
+18 | 0 - 0 | E | 293 | 285 | - | 578 | ||
| 3 |
|
+20 | 0 - 0 | E | 293 | 287 | - | 580 | ||
| T4 |
|
+24 | 0 - 0 | E | 291 | 293 | - | 584 | ||
| T4 |
|
+24 | 0 - 0 | E | 298 | 286 | - | 584 | ||
| T4 |
|
+24 | 0 - 0 | E | 293 | 291 | - | 584 | ||
| 7 |
|
+26 | 0 - 0 | E | 300 | 286 | - | 586 |
The Women of Troy have been led by Doris Chen (67-72) who is in fourth place on the individual leaderboard. Freshman Karen Chung has also stepped up with the round of the day shooting even-par 70, and she is now tied for 16th overall.
The Trojans two highest ranked players, Annie Park (+10) the defending individual champion, and Kyung Kim (+11) are having trouble regaining their dominance through the first two rounds. While senior captain Sophia Popov, the celebrated three-time All-American, shot a pair of 79s in each of the first two rounds but her scores were dropped.
USC is looking to become the first repeat NCAA champion since Duke won three in a row between 2005-07. The Trojans are nine-time winners this season, which broke last year's school season-record of seven, but they still have some work to accomplish towards getting right back into the national title conversation this weekend.
"Even when you look at the nine wins we've had this season I still feel like we haven't played our best golf," USC Coach Andrea Gaston told USC Athletics. "And certainly the last couple of days, even under difficult conditions, we are a very talented team and capable of playing a lot better. Hopefully we can figure it out this afternoon and get a fresh start tomorrow and see some of our best golf in the next couple of days."
USC will being play at 10 A.M. PST this morning, but make sure to follow the action all afternoon long and especially tomorrow for the final day of the tournament. LIVE LINK