Since Jasmine Koo first stepped on campus at USC, her Trojan coaches have been stressing consideration to element.
“My assistant, Beth [Wu], is at all times saying it, ‘Consideration to element! Consideration to element! Consideration to element!” Koo mentioned.
The ultra-talented but ultra-aggressive Koo, a freshman from Cerritos, California, didn’t put a lot thought into such meticulousness as a junior golfer – dissecting gap places earlier than aggressive rounds, enjoying to the fats aspect of greens, not backhanding brief putts. She didn’t have to, at the very least in changing into one of many nation’s prime high-schoolers. Her supreme talent led her to a fourth-place end on the Augusta Nationwide Girls’s Newbie this 12 months, adopted by low-amateur honors on the Chevron Championship, adopted by a semifinals look on the U.S. Ladies’ Junior, adopted by a 2-1-1 exhibiting on the Curtis Cup, adopted by a No. 2 standing on the planet beginner rankings.
Now 4 begins into her school profession, Koo has already matured her recreation vastly, including sensible golf to stellar golf – and she or he’s been downright unbeatable because of this.
Since her T-15 end in her USC debut, Koo has received three straight particular person titles, together with Monday on the East Lake Cup, the place Koo rattled off 9 birdies on a PGA Tour structure and shot 7-under 65 to win the 18-hole, stroke-play portion by three photographs over her teammate Catherine Park, who additionally completed runner-up to Koo final week on the Stanford Intercollegiate.
“Small targets and small errors,” Koo mentioned afterward, “that was the mindset I went with at this time, and it actually labored.”
Koo’s run of three straight wins, which additionally included her first school title on the Windy Metropolis Collegiate, places Koo in an elite group at USC. She joins Annie Park as the one Trojans to ever win three consecutive tournaments; Park additionally achieved the feat as a freshman, although her wins got here on the Pac-12 Championship, NCAA West Regional and NCAA Championship in 2013.
USC dominated Monday’s shootout at East Lake, ending six photographs forward of LSU and 15 photographs higher than UCLA, which can face its Los Angeles rival in Tuesday’s semifinals. Koo will face Bruins senior Caroline Canales within the second match out whereas Park will get fellow first-team All-American Zoe Campos, who’s enjoying her last school occasion earlier than turning professional to play LPGA last qualifying. Canales is also weighing an identical determination.
The Tigers will play Oregon within the different girls’s semifinal.
Georgia Tech earned the highest seed on the lads’s aspect and can face Ohio State on Tuesday. Auburn and Florida State will sq. off in a rematch of final spring’s NCAA males’s last.
