No. 1 USC vaulted to the top of the leaderboard after the second round of the 2016 NCAA Women’s Golf Championships on Saturday.
Junior Karen Chung fired a 3-under 69 to lead four Trojans under par as No. 1 USC vaulted to the top of the leaderboard after the second round of the 2016 NCAA Women’s Golf Championships on Saturday (May 21) at the Eugene (Ore.) C.C.
The Trojans, seeking their fourth NCAA title, turned in their fourth-best round ever at nationals with an 8-under 280 to move to a combined 7-under 569 (289-280) after 36 holes and taking a five-stroke lead into Sunday’s third round.
USC needs a top 8 finish after 72 holes of stroke play to advance to the eight-team match play tournament, the second year the NCAA Championships have been decided in this format. Troy fell in the semifinals last season.
MORE: Full leaderboard
Washington is second behind the Trojans at 2-under 574 and followed by UCLA (577) and Stanford (578) in the top 4. Oklahoma State and Oregon are tied for fifth (579) with Arizona seventh (580) and Northwestern eighth (581).
While Chung had the best round for the Trojans today, senior Kyung Kim is the highest on the leaderboard at 3-under 141 (71-70), her second round featuring four straight birdies between 14 and 17 that followed a triple bogey on 13. She is tied for eighth overall, four off the lead.
Kim’s round was her best since a 68 at the Stanford Intercollegiate on Oct. 20, her lone round in the 60s this season. If Kim breaks 70 in either of her final two rounds she will break USC’s career record with 23. She is currently tied with Sophia Popov at 22.
“My game was really solid before I made the triple on 13 which was caused by a buried lie in the bunker,” Kim said. “So when I got to 14 tee I had to remind myself that I was confident with my game so I just moved forward. As a whole, I think we have a really good game plan on how to attack this golf course by being very patient on certain spots and aggressive on the others."
Chung is tied for 10th at 2-under 142 (73-69) after her sixth round of the 60s this season, tied for the most on the team. She opened with a 3-under front 9 and was 4-under through 12 before her lone bogey of the day on 13.
Junior Tiffany Chan joined Chung in a tie for 10th at 2-under 142 (71-71) after her second straight 1-under round. She had four birdies on the day, including three in the front 9.
Freshman Robynn Ree bounced back from her opening 78 with a 2-under 70 to move to a tie for 67th at 4-over. She put together a six-birdie second round, including a stretch of four birdies over five holes between 11 and 15.
Junior Gabriella Then is tied for 85th at 6-over 150 (74-76). She had three birdies today.
The Trojans will tee off Sunday with the Huskies and Bruins.
