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Weekend wrap-up (May 26)

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NCAA Women’s Golf

Freshman Annie Park carded a 1-under-par 71 in the final round of the 2013 NCAA Women’s Golf National Championship at the University of Georgia Golf Course in Athens, Ga., to capture the individual title. Park’s 10-under-par 278 tournament total lead the USC Trojans to their third team national title at 19-under-par, winning by 21 strokes and breaking the NCAA championship 72-hole tournament record.

Park, a four-time Rolex Junior All-American, recorded three wins as a junior. She won the 2011 Lessing’s AJGA Classic and carded back-to-back victories in 2008 at the AJGA Cliffs Championship and the CNL Lifestyle Company Junior Championship. During her final AJGA season in 2012, Park finished top 20 in all eight starts, including a second-place showing at The PING Invitational.

Park joined USC’s golf team in the spring of 2013. In her first tournament as a Trojan, she placed third at the 2013 Lady Bulldog Invitational Championship conducted at the University of Georgia Golf Course. Park would go on to win three individual titles in 2013 at the Bruin Wave Invitational, the PAC-12 Championship and the West NCAA Regional Championship.

Four USC players finished in the top 20. Freshman Kyung Kim and junior Sophia Popov tied for sixth at 1-over-par 289. Kim, a four-time Rolex Junior All-American, posted three wins as a junior. Her biggest victory came in 2010 at the PING Phoenix Junior.

Sophomore Doris Chen tied for 15th with a 4-over-par 292. Chen, a five-time Rolex Junior All-American, recorded three victories during her junior career, including the 2010 U.S. Girls' Junior Championship.

Junior Rachel Morris carded a 5-over-par 293 to finish T17. Morris, a five-time Rolex Junior All-American, won eight times as a junior with a run of three consecutive wins in 2009, capping off with The PING Invitational title.

 
NCAA Men’s Golf

AJGA alum Cory Whitsett accomplished what no other golfer in the NCAA has ever done before by winning his second NCAA Elite 89 Award for the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship in two years. The Elite 89 Award recognizes the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA’s championships.

Whitsett boasts a 4.0 GPA in management and two tournament victories this season with five for his collegiate career. He leads the Alabama Crimson Tide with a scoring average of 71.26 and will make his third NCAA Championship appearance.

At the age of 15, Whitsett won the 2007 U.S. Junior Amateur Championship.  A three-time Rolex Junior All-American, he compiled four career AJGA wins and 25 top-15 finishes. Whitsett joined the company of Phil Mickelson, David Duval, Webb Simpson and Charles Howell III when he won the 2008 Rolex Tournament of Champions.

Past recipients of the Elite 89 Award include AJGA alumni Ben Greene (Kennesaw State University), DJ Milligan (California State University, Monterey Bay), Jack Dukeminier (University of Oregon), Brooke Pancake (University of Alabama) and Melanie Walsh (Washington University, Missouri).

Web.com Tour

Michael Putnam posted a 6-under-par 66 in the final round of the Mexico Championship Presented by Banamex to take the title with a 13-under-par 275. This victory marks Putnam’s first win this season and the second of his career.

During his junior career, Putnam recorded four top-five finishes, including back-to-back runner-up finishes at the PING Langdon Farms Junior Classic in 2000 and 2001.

 
Before turning professional in 2005, Putnam played for Pepperdine University where he was a three-time All-American and a recipient of the Byron Nelson Award.