No. 8 USC, Led By World No. 1 Justin Suh, Competes In Georgia This Week

The No. 8 USC men's golf team, featuring the world's new No. 1 amateur in senior Justin Suh, continues the fall schedule at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate Invitational, Friday through Sunday (Oct. 19-21), in Alpharetta, Ga.

The Trojans, the defending 2018 Pac-12 champions, are part of a 14-team field that also includes Florida State, Virginia, Alabama, host Georgia Tech, Texas A&M, Clemson, Duke, Stanford, New Mexico, UCLA, Wake Forest, East Tennessee State and TCU.

Play on the par 72, 7,017-yard course will start at 5:30 a.m. PT on Friday. Results will be available at Golfstat.com.

The Trojans, a two-time winner last year led by Player of the Year candidate Suh, will feature a starting five this week with Suh, sophomore Kaito Onishi, freshman Charlie Reiter and juniors Cheng Jin and Kyle Suppa. Jin and Onishi return to the starting lineup after missing the last event while competing at the Asia Pacific Amateur.

Onishi led USC to second in the season-opening Fighting Illini Invite, finishing third at 3-under 207 (68-69-70) while Suh tied for fourth at 2-under 208 (73-67-68) and freshman Charlie Reiter, in his collegiate debut, tied for sixth at 1-under 209 (72-71-66).

Suh led USC in its second event at the Nike Golf Collegiate Invitational, tying for 10^th at 1-under 209 (70-69-70) while the Trojans finished ninth.

Suh took over the top spot in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, moving past Braden Thornberry while Cal's Collin Morikawa is third. USC's next highest ranked player is Jin at No. 203 while Onishi is No. 299.

Suh is coming off one of the top seasons in USC history. The senior from San Jose, Calif., won a USC-record five tournaments, capped by the Pac-12 Championships individual title. He also broke USC's season records for stroke average (68.73), lowering Jamie Lovemark's 2007 mark (70.10). Suh's 21 rounds under 70 in 2018 also broke Lovemark's school standard of 20 from the same season.

In addition to his 21 rounds in the 60s, he had 23 rounds under par and 28 of par or better in 33 rounds. In addition to his 21 rounds in the 60s, he had 23 rounds under par and 28 of par or better in 33 rounds.

Suh was one of five finalists for the Jack Nicklaus Award, among 10 semifinalists for the 2018 Ben Hogan Award and was among the top 3 all season on the 2018 Haskins Award Watch List. He also played on the 2018 Palmer Cup Team and represented the U.S. at the 2018 World Amateur Team Championships, helping the American squad to second place and tied for third overall.

Onishi was second on the squad last year in stroke average (71.85) and rounds in the 60s (eight). Included in the early-season Arnold Palmer Cup rankings for the international team (15^th), he had a pair of top 4 finishes, four top 20s and seven results in the top 28.

Jin was third on the team in stroke average (72.33) with four top 23 finishes last year while Suppa was fourth (72.73) with three top 20 finishes.

Reiter, one of two freshmen on this year's squad along with Cameron Henry, was among the top amateurs to sign last fall. He was a 2017 U.S. Amateur and 2017 U.S. Junior Amateur qualifier.

Also back this year is senior Sam Kim, redshirt juniors Ryan Slater and Ing Ratanavadi and sophomores Issei Tanabe and Owen Calvin-Smith.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Owen Calvin-Smith

Cameron Henry

Sam Kim

Kaito Onishi

Charlie Reiter

Ryan Slater

Justin Suh

Kyle Suppa

Issei Tanabe