USC wins Windy City by five, Ruffels top individual

WILMETTE, Ill. (Oct. 2, 2018) – USC earned its first title under new head coach Justin Silverstein on Tuesday as the Trojans finished 54 holes at even par to win the Windy City Collegiate. The Midwest setting provided a different landscape for a young USC team, but they took to it quickly, posting consistent rounds of 286-290-288 to finish at even par. USC also won the event in 2014 when Silverstein was the team’s associate head coach.

Gabriela Ruffels won the tournament at 10-under 206 (69-66-71), one stroke better than Arizona State’s Raquel Olmos, who also shot a 71 on Tuesday. Both players mixed three birdies and two bogeys in the final round.

Tied after 11 holes, Ruffels charged ahead by two strokes with a birdie at No. 12 while Olmos bogeyed the hole. Olmos pulled to within a stroke with a birdie on 15, but both players parred the final three holes, Ruffels clinching the win with a 4-foot putt.

Her final round came on the heels of her 9-under opening act Monday. Her second round 66 was a personal best.

“I’m extremely proud of this group for grinding out a win on this incredibly difficult golf course,” Silverstein said. “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.”

The Pac-12 Conference swept the top three spots on the team leaderboard as Arizona State was second at 5 over and first-round leader Arizona was third at 7 over.

Host Northwestern finished tied for fourth with Florida at 8 over.

Information from USC Athletics used in this report