Corpuz leads a talented Southern California team to six-shot victory over UCLA in Silverado Showdown

    Southern California women’s golf coach Justin Silverstein could have used the first two rounds of last week’s Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship as a play-in for the Trojans for their appearance in this week’s Silverado Showdown, which wrapped up Wednesday at the Silverado Resort & Spa in Napa, Calif.

   I don’t know that he did that, but the fact that he could have tells you all you need to know about the depth of talent Southern California, No. 13 in the latest Golfstat rankings, possesses.

   You only get to send out teams of five ladies in most college tournaments, but Southern California had six of its players teeing it up in the opening round of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur at Champions Retreat Golf Club. Only two of them made the cut and played in Saturday’s final round at Augusta National, but the fact that six Trojans earned invitations to what is quickly becoming the biggest event in women’s amateur golf with the exception of the U.S. Women’s Amateur and the R&A’s Women’s Amateur Championship is really impressive.

   Allisen Corpuz, a graduate student from Honolulu, Hawaii and No. 11 in the Women’s World Amateur Rankin(WAGR), led the way as Southern California captured the team title in the Silverado Showdown by six shots over Pac-12 and cross-town rival UCLA.

   Corpuz was the top finisher in the Southern Cal contingent to Augusta National, finishing in a tie for 13^th place with a 6-over 222 total, closing with a solid 2-over 74 over the spectacular Alister MacKenzie design that played really, really tough for the top women amateurs on the planet.

   Two days later, Corpuz, the runnerup in last summer’s North & South Women’s Amateur Championship at another iconic layout, the Pinehurst Resort’s No. 2 Course, a Donald Ross masterpiece, was in Napa, Calif. posting a 2-under-par 70 over the 6,202-yard, par-72 Silverado layout. She added a 1-under 71 in Tuesday’s second round and the closed with a rush, firing a 4-under 68 for a 7-under 209 total that left her alone in second place, a shot behind the individual winner, Oregon State’s Ellie Slama, a junior from Salem, Ore.

   Corpuz’s final-round 68 helped the Trojans erase the four-shot deficit to UCLA they faced at the beginning of the final round with a 7-under 281, the low team round of the tournament, that enabled them to finish with a 2-under 862 total. Southern Cal had opened with a 3-over 291 and added a 2-over 290 in Tuesday’s second round.

   Corpuz took up the NCAA on its offer of an extra year of eligibility to make up for the spring of 2020 lost to the coronavirus pandemic to return for a fifth season at Southern Cal. She has also committed to extending her amateur career at least until August because she is a serious candidate to represent the United States in the Curtis Cup Match against Great Britain & Ireland at Conwy Golf Club in Caernarvonshire, Wales.

   UCLA, probably a little underrated at No. 31, had matched par with a 288 in Monday’s opening round and added a 1-over 289 before closing with a 3-over 291 that left the Bruins in second place, six shots behind Southern Cal at 4-over 868.

   No. 44 Oregon State, behind Slama’s performance, was another 17 shots behind UCLA in third place with a 21-over 885 total. The Beavers were only a shot behind Southern Cal after registered a pair of 3-over 291s in the first two rounds before struggling a little in the final round with a 303.

   No. 20 Oregon and Arizona State, at No. 10 the highest-ranked team in the field, rounded out an all-Pac-12 top five as they finished in a tie for fourth place in the 13-team field at 22-over 886, a shot behind Oregon State.

   After opening with a 7-over 295, the Ducks posted a 10-over 298 before finishing up with a 5-over 293. The Sun Devils played without their two top players, Linn Grant, a sophomore from Sweden and No. 2 in the Women’s WAGR, and Olivia Mehaffey, a fifth-year player from Northern Ireland and No. 18 in the Women’s WAGR, both of whom were on the long list of contenders at Augusta National. Arizona State opened with a 4-over 292 and added an 8-over 296 before closing with a 10-over 298.

   Backing up Corpuz for Southern Cal were two of the five players who finished in a tie for eighth place in the individual standings at 2-over 218, Amelia Garvey, a senior form New Zealand and No. 34 in the Women’s WAGR, and Alyaa Abdulghany, a senior form Newport Beach Calif. and No. 41 in the Women’s WAGR.

   Garvey, a runnerup in the R&A’s Women’s Amateur Championship in 2019 at Royal County Down, sandwiched an even-par 72 in Tuesday’s second round with a pair of 73s. Abdulghany, who made a run to the semifinals of last summer’s U.S. Women’s Amateur at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Md. before falling to eventual champion Rose Zhang, matched par in the opening round with a 72 before adding a pair of 73s. Garvey and Abdulghany both failed to make the cut in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

   Malia Nam, a junior from Kailua, Hawaii, also failed to make the cut in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and seemed to suffer a little bit of a letdown, opening with a 76 before adding a 77 in Tuesday’s second round at Silverado. But Nam was the low Trojan in the final round, matching the low individual round of the tournament with a 5-under 67 to finish in the group tied for 13^th place at 4-over 220.

   Alexa Melton, a sophomore from Covina, Calif., was the other Southern Cal player who made the cut at Augusta National, finishing in a tie for 28^th place at 230. Melton gave the Trojans a fifth player in the top 20 at Silverado as she added a 74 to her opening-round 76 before closing with a 1-over 73 that left her among the group tied for 20^th place at 7-over 223.

   The one member of the Southern Cal contingent to the Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship who did not tee it up at Silverado was Brianna Navarrosa, a freshman from San Diego whose glittering junior record earned her a ticket to Champions Resort. With a player like Navarrosa around, the Trojans’ first five know there is no room for a letdown.

   Silverstein did bring along Katherine Muzi, a junior from Newport Beach, Calif., along to compete as an individual at Silverado. Muzi opened with her best round of the week, a 3-over 75. She struggled to an 80 in Tuesday’s second round before closing with a 76 that landed her in the group tied for 47^th place at 231.

   Slama made a nice run to the round of 16 in last summer’s U.S. Women’s Amateur at Woodmont where she was ousted by Southern Cal’s Abdulghany in a match that went to the 18^th hole. Slama matched the low individual round of the tournament when she opened with a 5-under 67 and added a 4-under 68 in Tuesday’s second round to build a six-shot advantage over Corpuz and UCLA’s Emma Spitz, a sophomore from Austria and No. 15 in the Women’s WAGR.

   Slama struggled, relatively speaking, to a 1-over 73 in Wednesday’s final round, but was able to hold off the hard-charging Corpuz by a shot. Slama finished with an 8-under 208 total to earn her third career tournament victory.

   Spitz was very much in the hunt in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur as she was one of six players who finished in a tie for third place, one frustrating shot short of the playoff between Japan’s Tsubasa Kajitani, the eventual winner, and Wake Forest’s Emilia Migliaccio. Spitz added a 2-under 70 to her opening-round 71 to share second place with Corpuz after two rounds before closing with a 73 that left her in a tie for third place with UCLA teammate Yuki Yoshihara, a sophomore from Irvine, Calif., at 2-under 214.

   Yoshihara followed up an opening-round 70 by matching par in each of the final two rounds with a pair of 72s.

   Another UCLA player, Annabel Wilson, a sophomore from Northern Ireland, finished in a tie for fifth place with Arizona State’s Alessandra Fanali, a junior from Italy, at even-par 216, two shots behind Spitz and Yoshihara. After carding back-to-back 73s in the first two rounds, Wilson closed with a 2-under 70. Fanali opened with a 2-under 70 and then posted back-to-back 73s in the last two rounds.

   Wilson and Arizona State’s Mehaffey are two of the 17 women on the list of prospects for the Great Britain & Ireland Curtis Cup team released by the R&A last fall. If Mehaffey makes the GB&I team, it will be her third Curtis Cup appearance.

  Oregon’s Briana Chacon, a senior from Whittier, Calif., finished alone in seventh place, a shot behind Wilson and Fanali at 1-over 217. Chacon added a 73 to her opening-round 74 before finishing up with a 2-under 70.

   Joining Southern Cal’s Garvey and Abdulghany in the quintet tied for eighth place at 2-over 218 were Fanali’s Arizona State teammate Alexandra Forsterling, a junior from Germany, Iowa State’s Taglao Jeeravivitaporn, a sophomore from Taiwan, and San Jose State’s Kajsa Arwefjall, a sophomore from Sweden.

   Forsterling and Arwefjall were in lockstep, each matching par with 72s in the final two rounds after opening with a 74. Jeeravivitaporn added a 73 to her opening-round 74 before finishing up with a 1-under 71.