It wasn’t enough for the USC women’s golf team to simply make history with their third NCAA championship two weeks ago – they had to shatter it.
To say that the No. 1-ranked Women of Troy dominated the event is almost an understatement. USC posted a remarkable 19-under score of 1133 (284-276-285-288) last week at the University of Georgia Golf Club to win with the most strokes under par ever an NCAA women’s championship. It was a score that absolutely obliterated the previous record of 4-under, making the Bruins’ 2004 mark pale in comparison.
To quote head coach Andrea Gaston, it was, “A performance of epic proportions.”
Not to mention, freshman Annie Park, the seventh-ranked player in the women’s world amateur golf rankings, won the individual crown leading wire-to-wire. The Pac-12 champion rewrote the history books herself, becoming just the second woman to win a conference, NCAA regional and NCAA championship in the same season.
“She looked like a veteran out there,” Gaston said. “She’s very stoic and keeps her emotions in check but inside, there’s that competitive fire. There’s that something inside of her.”
But looking at the big picture, the Women of Troy didn’t just simply win another national title – they’re building a dynasty.
In 2010 and 2012, USC missed winning the title by just one stroke. The feeling stuck with the team and it fueled this season’s title run. But the feeling of winning in such a dominating fashion this season is an ever better feeling, and one that USC, especially freshmen like Park, want to replicate.
“There were three players who experienced that last year and they definitely did not want to leave one shot out there and go through that again,” Gaston said. “Each championship has something special that I will always remember. And doing something in the fashion that we just did – if you look at the numbers, it really is astounding.”
The Trojans aren’t done for the summer. The awards have continued to come as Park was announced as the recipient as the Honda Sports Award winner for golf, an award annually given to the top female collegiate athletes in their respective sports.
Park, as well as Kyung Kim and Doris Chen all qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open which be played later this month at Sebonack G.C. in Southampton, N.Y.
It’s a home tournament of sorts for Park, a Levittown, N.Y., native, who plays out of the Bethpage State Park golf courses including Bethpage Black – a championship course that has hosted two men’s U.S. Opens.
In addition, several USC will also make the rounds on the amateur circuit – the U.S. Amateur, the U.S. Public Links Championship and the North-South Amateur – continuing to build the presence of USC women’s golf far after the trophy was hoisted.
“I always try to encourage them to take a vacation because when they get back in August it’s back to work,” Gaston said. “But they love to compete, that’s what they do.”
