USC starts Stanford Intercollegiate with 12-shot lead

STANFORD, Calif. (Oct. 19, 2018) – At the end of the day at Stanford Golf Course, no one else was close to USC. The Trojans spent Friday's first round of the Stanford Intercollegiate pulling away from the field. After 18 holes, USC is 12 under while the next closest team is even.

The Trojans, who won the Windy City Collegiate earlier this month, posted a season-best score in climbing to the top of the leaderboard. Friday’s round of 12-under 272 also tied USC’s previous Stanford Intercollegiate-best effort from 2013.

USC sophomore Alyaa Abdulghany posted a career-best 4-under 67 while freshman Malia Nam matched it. They are part of a five-way tie for the individual lead that also includes Stanford’s Albane Valenzuela, Pepperdine’s Hira Naveed and UCLA’s Claire Legaspi.

“My round was great today and my game came together really nicely,” Abdulghany said. “I made some great shots into the green and made the putts. I hope to keep the momentum going tomorrow.

All four counting Trojan scores were under par. The throw-out score was an even-par 71.

“We’re very pleased with a lot of stuff that we did today,” USC head coach Justin Silverstein said. “It’s great that we were again able to produce a round that had our entire lineup in position to count for the day.”

Host Stanford is in second at even par while Northwestern and Pepperdine are tied for third at 4 over.

Information from USC Athletics used in this report