Ruffels may have turned pro, but Southern Cal is still good enough to capture team title in Sun Devil Winter Classic

    Fans of the Southern California women’s golf team got some bad news last week, although they weren’t completely taken by surprise.

   Australian Gabriela Ruffels, the two-time U.S. Women’s Amateur finalist – she captured the title in 2019 at Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Miss. and fell in an epic final last summer at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Md. – decided it was time to turn professional.

   Big hit, huh, losing a player like that? At Southern Cal, the answer is a resounding, Naaaahhhhh.

   The 2017-2018 Trojans were seemingly decimated by defections to the pros during the midseason pause. But a starting lineup that featured four freshmen – Ruffels being one of them -- and a sophomore reached the semifinals of the NCAA Championship at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla.

   Two of those four freshmen, Amelia Garvey of New Zealand and Alyaa Abdulghany of Newport Beach, Calif., and the sophomore, Allisen Corpuz of Honolulu, Hawaii, remain on the Southern Cal roster and all three were prominent as the Trojans held off host Arizona State to capture the team title in the Sun Devil Winter Classic, which wrapped up Wednesday at Turning Stick Golf Club’s Piipaash Course in chilly Scottsdale, Ariz.

   The 10-team field in the Sun Devil Winter Classic were all from the Pac-12, a conference that would not allow its golfers to compete during the fall portion of the wraparound 2020-’21 season due to coronavirus concerns. If the Sun Devil was any indication, though, the Pac-12 will be well-represented when the NCAA Championship is played at Grayhawk Golf Club, also in Scottsdale, in May when it figures to be a little warmer.

   The host Sun Devils did leave Turning Stick with a first-place trophy as Linn Grant, a sophomore from Sweden and No. 2 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), outdueled UCLA’s Emma Spitz, a sophomore from Austria and No. 18 in the Women’s WAGR, to capture the individual title with a 9-under-par 207 total over the 6,482-yard, par-72 Piipaash Course layout.

   But Grant and her Arizona State teammates were unable to overcome the deep -- even without Ruffels -- Trojans as they put together a final round of 5-under 283 for a 6-under 858 total and a four-shot victory over the Sun Devils.

   Southern Cal opened with a 1-over 289 in Monday’s first round and trailed Arizona State by three shots and Oregon by four before adding a 2-under 286 in Tuesday’s second round that gave it a one-shot edge over the Sun Devils heading into Wednesday’s final round.

   Southern Cal’s final-round 283 was three shots better than Arizona State’s 2-under 286 that left the Sun Devils four shots behind the Trojans with a 2-under 862 total.

   This was a two-horse race as Arizona, which won that 2018 NCAA crown at Karsten Creek, was 22 shots behind its in-state rival in third place with a 20-over 824 total. The Wildcats struggled to an opening-round 298 and added a 6-over 294 before closing with a 4-over 292.

   Oregon couldn’t maintain its momentum from that opening round of 3-under 285 as the Ducks added a 302 in the second round and finished up with a 299 to end up two shots behind Arizona in fourth place with a 22-over 886 total.

   UCLA, behind Spitz, finished a shot behind Oregon in fifth place at 21-over 887 as the Bruins opened with a 6-over 294 and added a 5-over 293 before struggling in the final round with a 300.

   It was those three holdovers from Southern Cal’s deep run in 2018 that led the way for the Trojans this week.

   Corpuz, who is No. 17 in the Women’s WAGR, accepted the NCAA’s offer of an extra year of eligibility to make up for the spring of 2020 stolen by the coronavirus pandemic. She rattled off three consecutive 1-under 71s to finish alone in third place, three shots behind UCLA’s Spitz.

   Corpuz reached the final of last summer’s North & South Women’s Amateur Championship at the Pinehurst Resort’s iconic No. 2 Course before falling to Wake Forest sophomore Rachel Kuehn. Corpuz was one of 12 women – Kuehn is also on the list – who took part in a practice session last month at Lake Nona Golf & Country Club in Orlando, Fla. for prospects for the U.S. team that will take on Great Britain & Ireland in the rescheduled Curtis Cup Match, which will be played in August at Conwy Golf Club in Caernarvonshire, Wales.

   Garvey, a senior and No. 28 in the Women’s WAGR, and Abdulghany, a senior and No. 31 in the Women’s WAGR, finished in a tie for fourth place, a shot behind Corpuz.

   Garvey, who lost in the final of The Women’s Amateur Championship in 2019 at Northern Ireland’s iconic Royal County Down, followed up an opening-round 74 with a pair of 2-under 70s.

   Abdulghany, who reached the semifinals of last summer’s U.S. Women’s Amateur at Woodmont before falling to eventual champion Rose Zhang, sandwiched a 2-under 70 in the second round with a pair of even-par 72s.

   Brianna Navarrosa, a freshman from San Diego coming off an outstanding junior career, finished among the group tied for 11^th place at 3-over 219. Navarrosa struggled in the second round with a 77, but matched par in the opening round with a 72 and delivered a clutch 2-under 70 in the final round.

   Rounding out the USC lineup was Katherine Muzi, a junior from Newport Beach, Calif. who finished alone in 31^st place with a 10-over 226 total. Muzi closed with a 76 after posting a pair of 75s in the first two rounds.

   USC head coach Justin Silverstein brought along Alexa Melton, a sophomore from Covina, Calif. who joined the Trojans after transferring following her freshman year at Pepperdine, to compete as an individual. All Melton did was fire an opening round of 3-under 69 followed by an even-par 72 that left her just one shot out of the lead shared by Grant and Spitz heading into the final round. Melton cooled off with a final-round 76, but still finished alone in ninth place with a 1-over 217 total.

   Grant opened with a 2-under 70 that left her a shot behind Spitz. Another 70 left Grant even with Spitz, who added a 71 to her opening-round 69. But Grant made four birdies in the last seven holes on her way to a sparkling 5-under 67, the second-best round of the tournament, to finish at 9-under.

   Spitz closed with a 2-under to earn runnerup honors at 6-under 210.

   Grant’s teammate and fellow Swede, sophomore Amanda Linner, shared sixth place with Arizona’s YuSung Hou, a senior from Taiwan and No. 22 in the Women’s WAGR, at 1-under 215, a shot behind the Southern Cal pair of Garvey and Abdulghany. Linner matched par with 72s in each of the final two rounds after opening with a 1-under 71.

   Hou, who was part of the Wildcats’ run to the 2018 national championship as a freshman, added a 72 to her opening round of 2-under 70 before closing with a 73. Hou was also in the lineup two springs ago when Arizona, in defense of its title, beat Southern Cal in the quarterfinals at The Blessings before falling to eventual champion Duke in the semifinals.

   The best round of the week belonged to Arizona State’s Ashley Menna, a freshman from Surprise, Ariz. who was competing as an individual. After opening with a 79, Menna flashed her talent with a sparkling 6-under 66 in the second round. She finished up with a 1-under 71 to end up alone in ninth place in the individual standings at even-par 216.

   Rounding out the top 10 was Colorado’s Kristy Hodgkins, a senior from Australia who finished a shot behind Southern Cal’s Melton in 10th place at 2-over 218.

   Southern Cal had opened its season by taking last week’s Lamkin San Diego Invitational at the Farms Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. Arizona State kicked off a little of the rust from nearly a year away from competitive college golf by defeating UCLA and Denver in the Match in the Desert last month.

   Before the all-Atlantic Coast Conference final in which Duke beat Wake Forest in the Final Match of the 2019 NCAA Championship at The Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark., the Pac-12 had really dominated the college postseason scene since the advent of the added layer of match play to determine the champion in 2015.

   Not sure what’s going on at Stanford, which has yet to so much as post a 2021 schedule on its website, but I do know the Cardinal have tons of talent. If you’re trying to size up the NCAA Division I women’s golf scene, you overlook the Pac-12 at your peril.