Top-seeded USC women’s golf continues into NCAA regionals after historic season

USC women’s golf is headed to the East Lansing NCAA Regional to compete in the tournament May 6-8, where they hold the No. 1 seed. The team will be led by sophomore Catherine Park and senior Amari Avery, who were both recently named to the Pac-12 All-Conference First Team.

They will be competing alongside senior Brianna Navarrosa, senior Christine Wang, junior Xin (Cindy) Kou and freshman Bailey Shoemaker.

Park and Shoemaker recently made history for the Trojans, with record-low rounds in big tournaments.

Shoemaker made history with a historic final round — a six-under-par 66 — that led to her second-place finish at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur (ANWA) on April 6.

The first two rounds of the tournament were held at Champions Retreat Golf Club, where Shoemaker went 70-73.

“It [was] my first time making the cut and being able to play in the final round,” Shoemaker said. “Just knowing that I was able to get through and put myself in position, I knew my game was in the right spot to hopefully take it deep at Augusta. And I did, so that was exciting.”

Shoemaker competed in the tournament alongside Avery, Park and incoming freshman recruit Jasmine Koo, who all made the cut as well.

Shoemaker’s final round marked the lowest final round in ANWA history and put her only one shot short of winner Lottie Woad of Florida State. Woad took home the tournament title after securing birdies on holes 17 and 18 to finish eight under par.

“She plays really well in the bigger events, and when the golf courses get nastier, she gets better,” USC head coach Justin Silverstein said of Shoemaker. “So I guess we should have seen it coming, but I don’t think we saw it as clearly as maybe we should have.”

“I finished like birdie-par-birdie-par-par, so it was a strong finish. I thought posting seven under would be enough, but Lottie played very well down the stretch, so it is what it is,” Shoemaker said.

Shoemaker described what it felt like walking up to the historic 18th hole, which so many greats had done before her.

“I could really feel that the crowd was on my side. The gallery had gotten pretty big, and I love a good crowd,” Shoemaker said. “Tiger [Woods] has done it so many times, everybody’s done it, and at that moment I thought I’d won.”

Park and Avery had finished their rounds before Shoemaker, so they were able to watch her finish her historic final round.

“It was technically my first time watching [Shoemaker] play, because when we play, we’re all separated,” Park said. “But watching my teammate [compete in] one of the biggest amateur tournaments, in my opinion, at one of the most prominent golf courses was great to watch.”

Shoemaker explained how the entire tournament was a surreal experience for not only herself but for women’s golf, saying how “it’s a blessing for women to finally be able to play at Augusta,” and how this event is almost like the women’s version of The Masters.

This is just the beginning for Shoemaker, as her long-term goals are to win championships on the LPGA Tour.

“I, of course, want to turn pro and give that a run and hopefully win the US Open,” Shoemaker said. “We have so many major winners that have graduated from here, a lot of really good LPGA pros that are all sweethearts and all love this university so much, so I’ll hopefully follow them.”

Just weeks after Shoemaker’s historic round, Park secured her third individual win of the season at the Pac-12 Championship on April 23 in Pullman, Washington. She shot 15 under par (70-64-67) and posted the lowest tournament score in Pac-12 Tournament history.

But the first day of the tournament was challenging for Park due to the weather.

“The first day, it was very hard because it was so windy, so a lot of adjustments needed to be made,” she said. “Then the last few rounds, the weather was much nicer, so it was just going back to what the game plan was, and everything went well from there.”

Park’s second round of 64 was tied for the lowest score she has ever shot in tournament play. She went on to sweep the entire competition by five strokes, finishing with a birdie and an eagle on the final two holes in her third round.

“It was a nice way to secure the win,” Park said. “The entire round was pretty steady, and I was trying to be patient because I was missing some putts I had for birdie.”

She said the most memorable moment of the tournament was her final putt on the 18th hole. Park had about a 33-foot eagle putt and was simply trying to get it near the hole. She thought she hit her putt past the pin, but it fell instead.

“It was the cherry on top, so that was probably the one hole I’ll forever remember,” Park said.

On the same day, Golf Channel announced that Park will represent Team USA for the Arnold Palmer Cup at the Lahinch Golf Club in Ireland on July 5-7. The Palmer Cup is a Ryder Cup-style event featuring men’s and women’s collegiate golfers.

“Playing for USA, of course, that’s a big thing, and also playing with other amazing golfers since it’s boys and girls, I’ll be meeting new people, too,” Park said. “This is a tournament that I’ve been looking forward to playing in college since I came to USC, and I’m happy that I get the honor to play and go all the way overseas.”

Park is now ranked No. 23 in the Women’s Amateur Golf Ranking with teammate Avery at No. 22 and Shoemaker at No. 110.

After finishing second as a team at the Pac-12 Championship, USC hopes to ride off the momentum of its top performers moving into NCAA Regionals next week.

“My goal is to get our ticket to nationals and get that team ring secured to end this good postseason,” Park said.

The Trojans have advanced to the NCAA Championship finals every year since 1998 and they hope to continue that achievement this year.