Preseason Women's College Golf Poll Finds USC on Top


For the second time in three years, USC has been dubbed the top-ranked team in the Division I preseason poll, claiming nine of 33 first-place votes.

While losing All-Americans Belen Mozo to graduation and Jennifer Song to the pros, the Trojans return senior Lizette Salas, a member of their 2008 NCAA title team. They also brought in transfer Lisa McCloskey, who finished runner-up at the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship and the Women's North & South Amateur, as well as making the cut at the U.S. Women's Open this past summer.

Ranked second is USC's cross-town rival, UCLA, which also grabbed nine first-place votes. The Bruins return a pair of players that competed on the victorious U.S. Curtis Cup team this past summer, Stephanie Kono and Tiffany Lua.

Rounding out the top-five are defending champion Purdue (No. 3), Alabama (No. 4) and Duke (No. 5).

Cydney Clanton, a senior from Auburn and first-team All-American, is number one on Golf World's list of the "Top 50 Female Players to Watch." The rest of the top-10 includes: No. 2 Marina Alex (Vanderbilt, Jr.); No. 3 Kono (UCLA, Jr.); No. 4 Carlota Ciganda (Arizona State, Jr.); No. 5 Marta Silva Zamora (Georgia, Jr.); No. 6 Danielle Kang (Pepperdine, Soph.); No. 7 Salas (USC, Sr.); No. 8 McCloskey (USC, Jr.); No. 9 Maude-Aimee LeBlanc (Purdue, Jr.); No. 10 Megan McChrystal (LSU, Sr.).

Golf World Coaches Preseason Women's Division I Poll

Rank Team Points '10 NCAA

1. USC (9) 775 2nd
2. UCLA (9) 746 6th
3. Purdue (11) 737 Won
4. Alabama (1) 706 3rd
5. Duke (1) 691 T-8
6. Auburn 651 T-11
7. Arizona 638 5th
8. Wake Forest 463 DNP
9. Virginia 446 13th
10. Vanderbilt 445 7th
11. Pepperdine 384 T-14
12. Tennessee 345 T-19
13. Georgia 342 DNP
14. Stanford 312 T-19
15. Michigan State 295 DNP
16. LSU 293 DNP
17. Texas A&M 275 T-11
18. Florida State 271 10th
19. Florida 265 DNP
20. California (1) 233 DNP
21. Arizona State (1) 184 4th
22. South Carolina 181 T-14
23. Denver 170 DNP
24. Oklahoma State 160 9th
25. Texas 159 T-16

Also receiving votes: Arkansas, 128; New Mexico, 127; Ohio State, 119; TCU, 100; North Carolina, 92; Tulane, 88; Oregon, 68; Kent State, 61; Louisville, 20; Georgia State, 16; San Jose State, 12; Florida Gulf Coast, 11; Penn State, 8; San Francisco, 8; UC Davis, 7; Texas State, 6; New Mexico State, 4; Colorado, 2; Oregon State, 2; Florida International, 1; Indiana, 1; Northwestern, 1.

First-place votes in parenthesis.

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