{"id":694264,"date":"2026-05-26T06:20:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T06:20:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/694264\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T06:20:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T06:20:17","slug":"not-100-and-3-years-after-near-ncaa-win-uscs-catherine-park-shares-54-hole-lead-at-la-costa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/694264\/","title":{"rendered":"Not 100% and 3 years after near-NCAA win, USC’s Catherine Park shares 54-hole lead at La Costa"},"content":{"rendered":"

CARLSBAD, Calif. \u2013 Much has changed since Catherine Park nearly won the NCAA Championship three years ago.<\/p>\n

Back then, she was what she described as \u201cfreshman-year Cathy.\u201d She was one of the best ball-strikers USC head coach Justin Silverstein had ever seen, but her putting was a liability and her mental game needed lots of work.<\/p>\n

So, when the then Trojans freshman, who\u2019d yet to win anything big at any level, found herself leading top-ranked amateur Rose Zhang by one shot with 18 holes to play at Grayhawk in 2023, she wasn\u2019t ready for the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was freaking out, like, oh my god, I\u2019m going up against Rose, I have to birdie every hole,\u201d said Park, who closed in 73 to tie for second, a shot behind Zhang. \u201cBut now, my game is different. I\u2019ve dialed in a lot of things, from putting to wedging, but mostly mentally.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know my game is good enough to be where I want to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Park, that is capturing that elusive NCAA individual title on Monday at Omni La Costa, where she sits tied with Texas\u2019 Farah O\u2019Keefe at 10 under after 54 holes. Park fired a 7-under 65 on Sunday, one stroke shy of tying the championship record, which she already holds a share of. Her round could\u2019ve been several shots better, too, as she birdied only one of the four par-5s.<\/p>\n

She\u2019ll play in the final pairing; as a freshman, Park played five groups ahead of Zhang as the Trojans weren\u2019t among the top three teams on the leaderboard. On Monday, USC (-16) will be grouped with Stanford (-21) and Oklahoma State (-10).<\/p>\n

Texas (-6), Arkansas (-3) and Iowa State (-3) all have a bit of a cushion as it relates to the top eight, which comes with a spot in match play after 72 holes. Arizona State, Duke and Florida are tied for seventh at 2 over, four shots clear of NCAA first-timer Eastern Michigan. Reigning NCAA champion Northwestern is 15th at 12 over, just surviving the 54-hole cut, which claimed 15 teams, including Wake Forest, which ended up a shot back of the Wildcats. Pepperdine, Missouri, SMU and North Carolina will also advance to Monday.<\/p>\n

Park, a senior who was T-5 last year at La Costa, has grown accustomed to winning over the years. She\u2019s done so five times to go along with seven runners-up since her freshman year. Silverstein no longer needs to walk every hole with Park, a true testament to her maturation.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s learned how to win and is a lot more comfortable with it,\u201d Silverstein said. \u201cShe\u2019s aware of what happens when she\u2019s in contention.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The NCAA Women\u2019s Golf Individual National Championship is underway at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif.<\/p>\n

A putter switch, to a mallet, before Big Tens has unlocked even more winning potential. \u201cThe putter saved me at regionals,\u201d said Park, who placed fifth there.<\/p>\n

The only concern is with Park\u2019s back, which has bothered her, on and off, for a while. It flared up after she got back from NCAA regionals last week, a byproduct of sub-40-degree temps in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and a four-hour flight home. She didn\u2019t practice for three days, graduating last Thursday and not touching a club Friday or Saturday. She chipped a little on Sunday before finally hitting balls this past Monday.<\/p>\n

Park, who has never missed a tournament at USC, is getting daily treatment at La Costa, where USC\u2019s trainer is onsite, and she\u2019s using a pushcart for the first time in her career.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy teammates are calling me Hot Wheels,\u201d Park said, laughing. \u201cBut when I\u2019m playing for something bigger, I get distracted from the pain.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it comes to what Park could accomplish on Monday, nothing in this sport, at least individually, is bigger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CARLSBAD, Calif. \u2013 Much has changed since Catherine Park nearly won the NCAA Championship three years ago. Back…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":694265,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,82],"class_list":["post-694264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=694264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/694265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=694264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=694264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=694264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}