No. 8 USC Set For North Ranch Intercollegiate

Feb. 21, 2013

The USC men's golf team, ranked No. 8 and fresh off its tie for first at The Prestige at PGA West earlier this week, returns to action Monday and Tuesday (Feb. 25-26) at the 2013 North Ranch Intercollegiate at the North Ranch C.C. in Westlake Village, Calif.

The Trojans hosted the local event from 1978-2011 but Pepperdine substituted in 2012 while USC hosted the NCAA Championships. This year, USC and Pepperdine are co-hosting the tournament.

In addition to the host schools, the 12-team field includes Arizona State, BYU, Liberty, Lipscomb, San Diego, San Diego State, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara and Western Kentucky.

Play will begin with 36 holes Monday with a shotgun start at 7:30 a.m., and will be followed by 18 holes on Tuesday, starting at 7:30 a.m. (with starting times off both nines). The course plays to a par 71 at 6,753 yards.

Live results for this year's event can be found here.

USC returns five players from last year's squad and has welcomed three newcomers. The squad is led by junior Jeffrey Kang, a 2012 All-American honorable mention selection, and by senior Sam Smith, a two-time All-Pac-12 honorable mention pick. Sophomore Anthony Paolucci also earned All-Pac-12 honorable mention honors last year and the nation's top recruit in 2011 has taken a big step in the 2012-13 season. Also back are junior Ramsey Sahyoun, a 2012 Pac-12 All-Academic honoree and senior Stewart Hagestad. Joining the squad are highly touted freshmen Yi Kuen "Jay" Chang, Michael Moorhead and Andrew Levitt.

USC posted a trio of third-place finishes in fall play at the Pac-12 Preview, the U.S. Collegiate Championship and the Gifford Collegiate-CordeValle. The Trojans also claimed the consolation final of the Stanford Classic Match Play while Kang tied for 12th in the individual-only Western Refining Collegiate.

Troy opened spring play with a tie for fourth at the Amer Ari Invitational before tying for first at The Prestige at PGA West, coming from behind to earn a share of the title.

Chang led all Trojan finishers at the Pac-12 Preview with a fifth-place finish at 7-under 209 (69-67-73). Kang tied for eighth at 5-under 211 (70-71-70). Chang paced USC again at the U.S. Collegiate Championship with a tie for ninth at 2-over 218 (71-75-72). He opened his final round with a 1-over front 9 but completed the day with a 1-under back 9, including birdies on 15 and 18. Paolucci (74-72-74) and Smith (71-76-73) tied for 20th at 4-over 220. At the Gifford Collegiate, Paolucci led the Trojans with a tie for fifth at 2-under 211 (71-71-69) while Smith tied for 13th at 3-over 216 (76-67-73). Paolucci's tie for 10th at 5-under 211 again led USC's efforts at the Amer Ari Invitational and the sophomore did it again at The Prestige at PGA West, tying for second as USC claimed a share of the event title. Kang and Chang tied for seventh.

Paloucci (71.20), Chang (71.53) and Kang (72.06) are USC's top three in stroke average. Paolucci has led USC in its past three events, all top 10 finishes, while Chang has three top 9 finishes this year. Kang has two in the top 8. Smith has three top 20 finishes and Sahyoun has three in the top 26 ... Chang has a team-best four rounds in the 60s while Sahyoun and Kang have three apiece ... Paolucci has two rounds in the 60s but only one round higher than a 73.

North Ranch Intercollegiate

Past team champions
1978    Houston1979    UCLA1980    Arizona State1981    UCLA1982    Oklahoma State1983    Arizona State1984    UCLA1985    Oklahoma State1986    Arizona State1987    Oklahoma State1988    UTEP1990    Cal1991    USC1992    Arkansas1993    Arizona State1994    Stanford1995    Stanford1996    Arizona State1997    USC1998    Arizona State1999    Texas2000    Arizona State2001    Arizona State2002    USC2003    UCLA2004    Texas2005    Tennessee2006    Pepperdine2007    Stanford2008    USC2009    Stanford2010    Oregon2011    San Diego State2012    San Diego State
Past individual champions
1978    Corey Pavin, UCLA1979    David Lee, Arizona State1980    Dan Forsman, Arizona State1981    Corey Pavin, UCLA1982    Willie Wood, Oklahoma State1983    Ken Earle, Pacific1984    Sam Randolph, USC1985    Brian Watts, Oklahoma State1986    Larry Silveira  Arizona1987    Bill Mayfair, Arizona State1988    Dave Bishop, UTEP1990    Ben Furth, Cal1991    Dave Bishop, UTEP1992    Jeff Lyons, Oregon1993    Steve Burdick, Stanford1994    Todd Demsey, Arizona State1995    Mike Walton, Pepperdine1996    Tiger Woods, Stanford1997    Jason Gore, Pepperdine1998    Paul Casey, Arizona State1999    Joel Hendry, New Mexico2000    Ryan Lavoie, Oregon2001    David Yarnes, Oregon State2002    Brock Mackenzie, Washington2003    Steve Conway, UCLA2004    Matthew Rosenfeld, Texas2005    Aron Price, Georgia Southern2006    Anthony Kim, Oklahoma2007    Rory Hie, USC2008    Tim Sluiter, USC2009    Steve Ziegler, Stanford2010    Eugene Wong, Oregon2011    Patrick Cantlay, UCLA2012    Matt Hoffenberg, San Diego State

No. 8 USC Set For North Ranch Intercollegiate

Players Mentioned

Stewart Hagestad

Jeffrey Kang

Andrew Levitt

Michael Moorhead

Anthony Paolucci

Ramsey Sahyoun

Sam Smith

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University Southern California Trojans

No. 8 USC Set For North Ranch Intercollegiate

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Players Mentioned

Stewart Hagestad

Jeffrey Kang

Andrew Levitt

Michael Moorhead

Anthony Paolucci

Ramsey Sahyoun

Sam Smith

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