USC Sweeps Team and Individual Titles at PAC-10 Golf Championships

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TEMPE, AZ -- Despite losing one of its top players to injury before the start of the final round, the USC women’s golf team played with four players and rallied through some tough stretches to win the 2011 Pac-10 Golf Championship at Karsten Golf Course.

Led by freshman Sophia Popov, who claimed the individual Pac-10 title in sudden death with a 6-under 210, USC was able to overcome the loss of Lisa McCloskey, the third ranked player in the country, to finish even-par for the tournament and five shots in front of the Arizona Wildcats.

The Trojans’ path to the title hit a bump on the sixth when they suffered two bogies, a double bogie and one par, but back-to-back birdies by Popov on seven and eight and another from Lizette Salas on seven helped settle them back down. Salas backed it up with an eagle on the 10th.

Popov opened the round atop the leaderboard with UCLA's Tiffany Lua, but started slowly with a bogie on one. After the double bogie on six, she was recharged with the back-to-back birdies and a thought of her fallen teammate.

“I had a horrible start, I was really nervous, but then I started thinking about Lisa,” Popov said. “I just said to myself, you can’t be doing this. She has a really bad back and can’t play. We have to give her that win so I started playing more aggressively and started making some putts. That’s how it turned.”

Lua, who shared the lead at -4 entering the final round, posted birdies on nine, 13, 14 and 15 to move back into a tie with Popov at -7. A bogey on 17 and par on 18, put her in the clubhouse at -6, where she had to wait.

“I started a little slow. I was able to create some opportunities but wasn’t able to convert on them early on,” Lua said. “The birdie putt on nine was huge for me. It was my first birdie of the day and really got me started.”

A late bogey on 17 and par on 18 sent Popov into a sudden death playoff with Lua at -6.  They would play the par-4 18th until a winner was crowned. 

“I was super nervous, but I made a really good drive and thought let’s just make par and see what she does,” Popov said. 

Both players hit clean drives into the middle of the fairway and hit the green with their second shots, setting up long birdie opportunities for both. Lua’s 25-foot attempt slid past the hole by a foot, while Popov’s 15-footer stopped six inches short. She tapped in for par. Lua’s comeback par putt missed left and Popov was the new champion. 

Below, Sophia Popov of USC credited her aggressive play for being able to pull off victory:

A very proud USC Head Coach Andrea Gaston takes us through USC's win:

Check out the complete highlights from the final round:

Release and videos courtesy of the PAC 10 Conference!

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