Southern California's veterans deliver another Pac-12 Championship victory

    They were the kids back in 2018 when some midseason personnel losses left the Southern California lineup with four freshmen and a sophomore.

   Maybe they just didn’t know any better, but they just kept going until they finally fell one win short  of the NCAA Championship’s Final Match, losing to a powerful Alabama team at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla.

   Maybe that’s why Allisen Corpuz, the veteran on that team as a sophomore, came back for a fifth year when offered that option by the NCAA to make up for the spring of her senior season stolen by the sudden arrival of the coronavirus pandemic and the equally sudden end to the wraparound 2019-2020 season.

   I’m thinking nothing short of a national championship for the Women of Troy will do for Corpuz, a graduate student from Honolulu, Hawaii and No. 11 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).

   Southern California, No. 10 in latest Golfstat rankings, took the first small step toward its ultimate goal with a five-shot victory over Stanford and a host of other talented challengers in the Pac-12 Championship, which wrapped up Sunday at the Stanford Golf Course in Stanford, Calif.

   Amelia Garvey, a senior from New Zealand and No. 30 in the Women’s WAGR, was one of the freshmen in 2018. Garvey was the runnerup to Stanford’s Rachel Heck, a freshman from Memphis, Tenn. and No. 9 in the Women’s WAGR, in the individual chase, finishing two shots behind Heck with a 5-under-par total over the 6,269-yard, par-71 Stanford layout.

   Alyaa Abdulghany, a senior from Newport Beach, Calif. and No. 42 in the Women’s WAGR, is the third holdover still around from that starting lineup at Karsten Creek and she finished alone in 12^th place in the Pac-12 Championship with a 4-over 217 total.

   Had a feeling I wasn’t going to get to this until after the NCAA regional fields were announced. And Southern California and Stanford, which moved up from No. 26 to No. 20 after its runnerup showing in the Pac-12 Championship, and No. 22 Arizona, which won the national championship three springs ago at Karsten Creek, will be right back at the Stanford Golf Course when the Stanford Regional tees off May 10.

   I suspect the Pac-12 schools aren’t completely thrilled with their seedings at Stanford, with the Trojans seeded third, the Cardinal seeded fifth and the Wildcats seeded sixth, but once the ball is in the air, the seedings won’t matter one bit. Look for several of the teams that teed it up in the Pac-12 Championship last week to be in the field when the field convenes for the NCAA Championship May 21 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.

   Southern California, which captured the title the last time the Pac-12 Championship was contested in 2019, was a wire-to-wire winner this year, but its pursuers kept the heat on the whole time.

   The Trojans opened with a 2-over 283 and added a 3-over 287 in Saturday’s second round to take a four-shot lead over No. 7 Arizona State going into Sunday’s final round. Stanford added a 2-over 286 to its opening-round 289 and was a shot behind the Sun Devils in third place and just five shots behind Southern Cal.

   Southern California and Stanford then closed with identical 5-under 279s. That gave the Trojans a 3-under 849 total with Stanford still five back in second place with a 2-over 854 total.

   Arizona State added a 1-over 285 to its opening round of 7-over 291 before closing with a 2-over 286 to finish six shots behind Stanford in third place with an 8-over 860 total. The Sun Devils are seeded second in the Columbus Regional at The Ohio State University’s challenging Scarlet Course.

   The last two national champions that the Pac-12 produced were the Sun Devils in 2017 at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill. and Arizona in 2018 at Karsten Creek. Neither won the Pac-12 title in its national championship season. And both are dangerous in 2021.

   Arizona opened with a 7-over 291 before posting a pair of 1-over 285s to finish in fourth place, a shot behind its cross-state rival with a 9-over 861 total.

   UCLA, which moved up a couple of spots in the Golfstat rankings from No. 27 to No. 25, and Oregon, which dropped a spot from No. 12 to No. 13, finished in a tie for fifth place in the 10-team field, each landing on 23-over 875, 14 shots behind Arizona.

   The Bruins added a 6-over 290 to their opening-round 291 before finishing up with a 10-over 294. The Ducks struggled a little in the first two rounds, adding an 11-over 295 to their opening-round 297, but came on strong in the final round with a 1-under 283. UCLA is seeded seventh in the Louisville Regional at the University of Louisville Golf Club in Simpsonville, Ky. and Oregon is seeded fourth in the Baton Rouge Regional at LSU’s home course, the University Club in Baton Rouge, La.

   Garvey, the runnerup in The Women’s Amateur Championship in 2019 at Royal County Down in Northern Ireland, shared the individual lead after opening with a 4-under 67. She fell back a little with a 1-over 72 in Saturday’s second round, but closed with a 2-under 69 to end up at 5-under in second place.

   Malia Nam, a junior from Kailua, Hawaii, backed up Garvey for the Trojans as she opened with a solid 3-under 68 and added a 1-over 72 in Saturday’s second round before closing with a 2-under 69 that left her in a tie for third place, a shot behind Garvey at 4-under 209.

   Abdulghany, who made a run to the semifinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Md., was typically solid for the Trojans, adding a 74 to her opening-round 73 before contributing a 2-under 70 to Southern Cal’s strong final-round showing that left her alone in 12^th place.

   Corpuz landed in a tie for 15^th place at 7-over 220 as she added a 74 to her opening-round 75 before matching par in the final round with a 71.

   Brianna Navarrosa, a freshman from San Diego, gave Southern Cal five players in the top 20 as she ended up among the group tied for 20^th place at 9-over 222. Navarrosa, coming off an outstanding junior career, opened with an 80, but quickly put it behind her, contributing a huge 2-under 69 in Saturday’s second round that was the best round of the day for the Trojans. Navarrosa closed with a 2-over 74.

   Southern Cal lost one other holdover from that youthful group that reached the semifinals at Karsten Creek when Aussie Gabriela Ruffels decided to turn pro during what would normally be considered the midseason break. There was no fall portion of the wraparound 2020-’21 season for the Pac-12 players and many others around the country due to the ongoing pandemic.

   Ruffels had lost to Rose Zhang in an epic U.S. Women’s Amateur final at Woodmont last summer after winning a U.S. Women’s Amateur title in 2018 at Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Miss. It was time for Ruffels to get on with her pro career. I suspect, however, that there is no bigger fan of this Southern Cal team at this moment than Gabi Ruffels.

   Somehow, Stanford’s Heck seems underrated, despite a glittering junior record. Not only did she qualify for the 2017 U.S. Women’s Open at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., she made the cut and finished in a tie for 33^rd place. It was so long ago, you can’t even find the age references anymore, but I’m pretty sure she was all of 15.

   Even the people at the Women’s WAGR seem to agree that Heck was underrated after she added a pair of 2-under 69s to her opening round of 3-under 68 to capture the Pac-12 individual title by two shots with a 7-under 206 total. Heck, the qualifying medalist in last summer’s U.S. Women’s Amateur at Woodmont, zoomed up 10 spots in the Women’s WAGR into the top 10 at No. 9 following her Pac-12 individual triumph.

   Heck was not invited to the practice session in late January for this summer’s rescheduled Curtis Cup Match at Conwy Golf Club in Caernarvonshire, Wales, but, assuming she’s interested in seeing Wales in August, I’d have to think Heck is earning some consideration to make the U.S. team.

   Joining Southern California’s Nam in the tie for third place at 4-under 209 was Arizona’s Yu-Sang Hou, a senior from Taiwan who added a 3-under 68 to her opening-round 71 before closing with a 70.

   Arizona State’s Linn Grant, a sophomore from Sweden and, at No. 2 in the Women’s WAGR, the highest-ranked player in the field, bounced back from an opening-round 73 with a 2-under 69 in Saturday’s second round and a 3-under 68 in Sunday’s final round to get a share of fifth place with Oregon’s Briana Chacon, a sophomore from Whittier, Calif.

   Chacon matched par in the first two rounds with a pair of 71s before closing with a 3-under 68 to join Grant at 3-under.

   Heck isn’t the only talented youngster on the Stanford roster. Angelina Ye, a sophomore from Bradenton, Fla., finished in a tie for seventh place with UCLA’s Annabel Wilson, a sophomore from Northern Ireland and No. 83 in the Women’s WAGR, at 1-under 212. Ye, a native of China, won the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship in 2019 at SentryWorld in Stevens Point, Wis. After matching par in the opening round with a 71, Ye struggled a little in a second-round 74 before firing a 4-under 67 in the final round, low-Cardinal for the day, to get it to 1-under.

   Wilson struggled in the opening round with a 74, but bounced back with a 1-under 70 in Saturday’s second round before finishing up with a 3-under 68.

   Arizona State’s other sophomore Swede, Amanda Linner, matched Garvey’s opening-round 67 to get a share of the lead. After matching par with a 71 in Saturday’s second round, she backed off in the final round with a 75 to finish alone in ninth place at even-par 213.

   UCLA’s Emma Spitz, a sophomore from Austria and No. 16 in the Women’s WAGR, fired back-to-back 3-under 68s in the first two rounds and stood atop the individual leaderboard going into Sunday’s final round. Spitz, who got a lot of air time in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship earlier this month, struggled to a 78 in the final round to finish in a tie for 10^th place with Arizona’s Vivian Hou, a sophomore from Taiwan, at 1-over 214.

   Spitz and Heck were two of the six players who finished in a tie for third place at Augusta National.

   Vivian Hou was steady all weekend, adding a pair of even-par 71s to her opening-round 72 to get a piece of 10^th place with Spitz.