No. 15 USC Returns To Action At The Goodwin

The No. 15 USC men's golf team, led by Golfweek's No. 1 ranked player and four-time winner this year, Justin Suh, heads to the Bay Area this week for the 49^th edition of The Goodwin at Harding Park G.C. in San Francisco, Thursday through Saturday (March 29-31).

The Goodwin
This year's 25-team field includes Abeline Christian, Arizona State, BYU, Cal, Cal Poly, Colorado, Minnesota, Nevada, Northern Colorado, Northwestern, Oklahoma, Oregon, Oregon State, San Francisco, San Jose State, SMU, Sonoma State, Stanford, St. Mary's, UC Davis, USC, UNLV, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

There will be a double shotgun each round, starting with the morning wave on No. 1 and No. 10 tees at 7:30 a.m. PT and the afternoon group starting at 12 p.m. Results will be available at Golfstat.com. USC will tee off beginning at 12:55 p.m. on Thursday.

USC's lineup will include junior Justin Suh, sophomores Cheng Jin and Ryan Slater, freshmen Kaito Onishi and Issei Tanabe and individual entry sophomore Kyle Suppa.

Suh-perlatives

USC, under 12^th-year head coach Chris Zambri, has been led this year by Suh, a four-time winner in seven events this season who is averaging a remarkable 68.25 strokes in 20 rounds, leading to seven top 9 finishes. His stroke average is under the season school record set by Jamie Lovemark (70.10, 2007).

Win 1 – Suh captured his second career collegiate title and first of the season at the Trinity Forest Invitational at 10-under 203 (67-69-67).
Win 2 -- Suh won his second title this year 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.
Win 3 -- He won his third event of the season at the Amer Ari Invitational to open spring play, taking the title at 13-under 837 (69-66-68) while birdieing four of the final six holes, including 17 and 18.
Win 4 – Suh won again at the Southern Highlands Collegiate at 8-under 208 (68-70-70) for a two-stroke win, using an eagle on the 14^th hole in the final round to help clinch it.

Suh 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) and he tied for fourth in the 36-hole Prestige at PGA West at 2-under 140 (71-69).

Suh, the sixth-ranked amateur in the world, has 14 rounds in the 60s this season in 17 rounds, including a recent streak of seven in a row. He also boasts 16 rounds under par in 20 outings this year and has 19 rounds of par or better.
Overall this year, Suh is 26-6-2 against the top 25, 52-9-3 against the top 50, 94-12-3 against the top 100 and 481-12-6 against all players. He now has 13 straight top 20 finishes dating back to last season, 11 of which have been inside the top 9 and 12 in the top 11.

Suh's four wins are the most by a Trojan in one season since Jamie Lovemark won four events as a 2007 freshman. Prior to that, Sam Randolph won four times in the 1983-84 season while Scott Simpson won four times in 1976-77 and 1974-75.

Suh's dominance this year earned him a spot on the 2018 Arnold Palmer Cup team, announced March 14, where he'll follow in the footsteps of recent teammates Sean Crocker (2017) and Rico Hoey (2015). Other Trojans who have played in the Palmer Cup include Netherlands-native Tim Sluiter (2008), who represented Europe, Jamie Lovemark (2007) and Brian Hull in the first Cup in 1997. Zambri also led the U.S. to victory, 13-11, as the head coach in 2010.

Suh has topped the first two watch lists for the 2018 Haskins Award and is among 27 collegiate golfers on the watch list for the 2018 Ben Hogan Award.

Freshman Kaito Onishi (71.85) and sophomore Cheng Jin (72.88) are second and third, respectively, on the team in stroke average.

Onishi had a recent run of five straight rounds under 70, snapped at The Prestige at PGA West. Still, his six rounds in the 60s are second most on the team and Onishi was also included on an earlier version of the Arnold Palmer Cup rankings for the international team, coming in at 15^th. Onishi tied 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 – and then tied for fourth at the Amer Ari Invitational at 11-under 205 (69-66-68). He has three top 20 finishes and five in the top 28.

Sophomore Cheng Jin is coming off his season-best result, a tie for 20^th at the Southern Highlands Collegiate at 2-over 218 (70-76-72) among a pair of top 23 finishes. Sophomore Cheng Jin recorded a 17-stroke victory to win the PGA Tour Series-China Mainland China Qualifying Tournament on March 2 and earn a spot on the tour.

Sophomore Kyle Suppa (73.00) is fourth on the squad in stroke average. He 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 20^th at the Trinity Forest Invitational at 1-over 214 (72-70-72) among three top 33 finishes this year. His four rounds in the 60s are third most on the team.

Sophomore Ryan Slater is averaging 73.33 strokes per round in nine outings, including one round under 70.

Onishi is among four newcomers on the team that also include freshmen Issei Tanabe and Owen Calvin-Smith as well as junior Sam Kim, who comes to USC after two years at New Mexico. Kim has averaged 73.43 strokes in 12 rounds this year (three in the 60s) while Tanabe is at 74.86 in 14 rounds (two in the 60s). Calvin-Smith has played in six rounds.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Owen Calvin-Smith

Sean Crocker

Rico Hoey

Cheng Jin

Sam Kim

Kaito Onishi

Ryan Slater

Justin Suh

Kyle Suppa

Issei Tanabe