Gabriela Ruffels of USC captured the individual title and led the fifth-ranked Trojans to victory in the Windy City Collegiate at Westmoreland Country Club (http://www.westmorelandcc.org) in Wilmette, Ill., giving first-year Coach Jeff Silverstein his first victory.
USC, which finished third in the ANNIKA Intercollegiate to open the season, recorded a score of 286-290-288—864, even par, while reigning national champion Arizona State was second at 294-283-292—869, followed by Arizona at 289-286-296—871.
“I’m extremely proud of this group for grinding out a win on this incredibly difficult golf course,” said Silverstein, who was an associate head coach when the Trojans won the Tournament in 2014. “This course is quite different from what we see at home, so it was a big adjustment for the entire lineup.
“Gabi played beautifully all week and her stellar play was able to pace us against this loaded field. We look forward to building on this result and getting back home to prepare for our next big event at Stanford.”
Florida totaled 293-292-287—872 to tie for fourth with Duke, which finished at 294-294-284—872, while Duke was sixth at 284-301-293—878, Purdue at 303-296-292—891, and Ohio State at 303-286-303—892.
South Carolina shot 294-305-297—896 to tie for ninth with Colorado, which wound up at 301-302-293—896, while San Diego State was 13th at 307-302-301—910.
Ruffels, a sophomore from Australia who finished second in the 2018 North & South Amateur, claimed her first college title with a score of 69-66-71—206, 10-under, followed by Raquel Olmos of Arizona State at 70-66-71—207.
“I knew from the start of the day that I just had to stay steady because conditions weren’t easy,” said Ruffels, who finished with three straight pars after a go-ahead birdie on the 15th hole. “I actually didn’t know the score coming down the final nine (holes), but just focused on trying to beat Raquel, who was in my group.”
Robyn Choi of Colorado finished at 72-69-72—213 to tie for third with Jaclyn Lee of Ohio State, who wound up at 72-66-75—213, and Sandra Nordaas of Arizona, who came in at 71-72-70—213, and Marta Perez San Martin of Florida was sixth at 71-72-71—214.
Olivia Mehaffey of Arizona State shot 77-66-72—215 to tie for seventh with Jaravee Boonchant of Duke, who finished at 68-72-75—215, Brooke Riley of Northwestern, who wound up at 74-70-71—215, and Kelly Sim of Northwestern, who totaled 73-72-70—215.
Sara Kjellker led San Diego State in a tie for 15th at 75-69-75—219.
Rounding out the scoring for team champion USC were Malia Nam, who shot 68-75-73—216 to tie for 11th with Trojan teammate Jennifer Chang, who finished at 73-72-71—216, while Allisen Corpuz tied for 39th at 76-77-73—226, and Aiko Leong tied for 70th at 78-80-84—242.
For complete results, visit http://results.golfstat.com//public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=16178
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