Women’s golf finishes ninth at the Windy City Collegiate Classic

Women’s golf finished ninth out of fifteen teams at the Windy City Collegiate Classic in Chicago on Tuesday, the second tournament of the fall 2023 season.

After three rounds at Glen View Club, the Trojans shot a team score of 4 under par, 27 strokes behind UCLA, who finished 31 under par.

Sophomore Catherine Park was USC’s leading player, with an individual tie for 20th finish after shooting a combined three-day score of 4 under par (71-70-71).

“Park continued her steady play and squeaked in a top-20 finish individually, which was good,” head coach Justin Silverstein said. “She didn’t play her best like the rest of the group this week, but she was able to kind of keep it together.”

This was Park’s eighth career top-25 finish.

Not far behind Park was junior Amari Avery, who tied for 27th place individually, finishing 3 under par.

“She putted amazing actually, but her ball striking wasn’t there,” Silverstein said.

Avery took home her fifth individual first-place title at the Leadership and Golf Invitational in Washington two weeks ago, where she additionally broke USC’s record for most career rounds in the 60s with 23.

“We had some decent rounds,” Silverstein said. “But all around, we were just not consistent enough and not sharp enough the entire week, which is a bummer because we looked pretty good at home.”

Silverstein explained that despite coming off of a successful first-place finish at their last event, as well as great course and weather conditions in Chicago, the team struggled.

“A couple players putted really nicely, which should have contributed to some better scores, but unfortunately I think our ball striking and our wedge play just weren’t sharp enough to get us where we needed to be on the golf course,” Silverstein said. “It was really warm and the ball was going a long way this week, so those conditions were conducive to a lot of birdies, but unfortunately we just didn’t put ourselves in position enough to make enough of them.”

Silverstein stated that the team is frustrated with their performance and will evaluate their weaknesses and get back to work right away to prepare for their upcoming events.

The Trojans will face UCLA in the Battle for the Bell on Oct. 12 at the Bel-Air Country Club.

“It’s a one-day event and that means a lot to us,” Silverstein said. “We got it handed to us pretty good last year, and they handed it to us pretty good this week, so we’re looking for a little revenge.”