No. 24 USC Men’s Golf Drops First Copper Cup Match to No. 21 UCLA

Monday, January 19

Laguna Niguel, CA

USC

Copper Cup

Jaden Dumdumaya at the final round of the Trinity Forest Invitational

Photo by: Mario Terrana

No. 24 USC Men’s Golf Drops First Copper Cup Match to No. 21 UCLA

January 19, 2026 | Men's Golf

Nicolas Dominguez, Jaden Dumdumaya and Antonio Safa picked up wins for the Trojans.

LAGUNA NIGUEL, CALIF. — The No. 24 USC men's golf team fell 7.5-3.5 to the No. 21 UCLA Bruins in the first round of the Copper Cup at El Niguel Country Club in Laguna Niguel, Calif. on Monday.

USC's three pairings for the alt shot first round matches were Jack Buchanan and Luke Stock; Jaden Dumdumaya and Raghav Gulti; plus Kai Komulainen and Nicolas Dominguez. In the first round, the Bruins won all three alt shot matches, while Safa won 2&1 against Alex Papayoanou. The Trojan senior won the first hole and didn't relinquish the lead. He was 2UP at the turn and maintained that advantage the rest of the way.

The Trojans had an opportunity to flip the match in the afternoon session, which featured eight individual matchups. However, USC could only come up with two more wins with Dumdumaya's 3&1 win over Josh Kim and Dominguez's 1UP win over Logan Kim. Buchanan and Papayoanou's match was all square, while Komulainen's match was not completed.

USC will take on No. 7 Arizona State in tomorrow's consolation match, which is scheduled for 8 a.m. The Sun Devils were upset by the No. 30 Arizona Wildcats 8-1-3 on Monday in the other first-round match. Tomorrow's match will be the first Copper Cup meeting between the two teams.

THE COPPER CUP

EL NIGUEL COUNTRY CLUB

LAGUNA NIGUEL, CALIF.

JAN. 19, 2026/PAR72/7,017 YARDS

Morning matches:

Logan Kim/Tyler Loree def. Kai Komulainen/Nicolas Dominguez 2UP
Kyle An/Luciano Conlan def. Jaden Dumdumaya/Raghav Gulati 2&1
Baylor Larrabee/Josh Kim def. Jack Buchanan/Luke Stock 1UP
Antonio Safa def. Alex Papayoanou 2&1

Afternoon matches:

Jaden Dumdumaya def. Josh Kim 3&1
Baylor Larrabee def. Antonio Safa 3&1
Jack Buchanan vs. Alex Papayoanou all square
Kyle An def. Luke Stock 4&3
Nicolas Dominguez def. Logan Kim 1UP
Tyler Loree def. Raghav Gulati 1UP
Trevor Garus vs. Kai Komulainen 2UP thru 15

UP NEXT
The Trojans will face off against the No. 7 Arizona State Sun Devils in the Copper Cup consolation match tomorrow at 8 a.m. PT. A link to live scoring can be found on the men's golf team's schedule page on usctrojans.com.