University Southern California Trojans
USC
Amer Ari Intercollegiate
Players Mentioned
No. 15 USC Begins Spring Season At Amer Ari Invitational
January 31, 2018 | Men's Golf, Features
Trojans led by nation's No. 1, Justin Suh.
Play on the 7,074-yard, par-72 course will begin each day at 9:30 a.m. (PT) with a shotgun start. The 18-team field includes Arizona State, Auburn, Colorado, Georgia Tech, Hawai'i, UH-Hilo, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Oregon State, Osaka Gakuin, Pacific, San Jose State, Stanford, Texas, TCU, Texas Tech, UC Davis and USC.
The Trojans, who have played in every tournament since its inception in 1991, won the event in 2010 and 2016. In 2012, USC's Jeffrey Kang beat Texas freshman Jordan Spieth in a playoff for Troy's only individual win in the event.
USC's lineup will include Suh, sophomores Cheng Jin and Hawaiian local Kyle Suppa and freshmen Kaito Onishi and Issei Tanabe. Junior Sam Kim will play individually.
Results will be available at Golfstat.com.
USC has been led this year by Suh, a two-time winner in four fall tournaments who averaged a remarkable 67.83 strokes in 12 early season rounds, leading to a quartet of top 9 finishes. He captured his second career collegiate title at the Trinity Forest Invitational at 10-under 203 (67-69-67) and won his third at the Saint Mary's Invitational with a dominating 13-under 200 (67-66-67) – that included 15 birdies and an eagle -- to close fall play.
He also tied for second at the Nike Golf Collegiate Invite at 12-under 201 (67-71-63). The final round was USC's best since Rico Hoey carded the same score at the Amer Ari Invitational last season. The last Trojan round lower belongs to Sam Smith, a 62 in the second round of the 2013 NCAA Pullman Regional. Suh's previous best was a 65 at the 2017 Pac-12 Championships.
Suh opened the season by tying for ninth in the OFCC/Fighting Illini Invite at even 210 (70-69-71).
Suh, the 13th-ranked amateur in the world who has nine rounds in the 60s this season, begins spring play with 10 straight top 20 finishes dating back to last season, eight of which have been inside the top 9 and nine in the top 11.
Onishi (71.50) and Suppa (71.58) are second and third, respectively, in stroke average on the team. Onishi is coming off his best event as a Trojan, a tie for second at the Saint Mary's Invitational at 8-under 205 (73-63-69), his middle round tying Suh for low on the team.
Suppa also turned in a season best at Saint Mary's as he tied for sixth at 6-under 207 (75-68-64), his final round 7-under tying his collegiate best. He tied for 20th at the Trinity Forest Invitational at 1-over 214 (72-70-72) among three top 33 finishes this year. His three rounds in the 60s are second most on the team.
USC entered the season figuring to lean on two-year returning starter Suh, who earned All-American honors his first two years in school, and sophomore Cheng Jin, starting for the second year in a row. Jin is tied fourth on the team in stroke average at 73.22 with Kim.
Also returning from last year is Suppa, who saw spot action as a 2017 freshman reserve, Slater (who sat out last year), and redshirt sophomore Ing Ratanavadi, another reserve.
The Trojans welcome four newcomers, including freshmen Onishi, Owen Calvin-Smith and Tanaba and Kim, who comes to USC after two years at New Mexico.
