USC Men’s Golf Qualifies for First NCAA Championships Since 2019

Wednesday, May 20

Bermuda Run, N.C.

USC

NCAA Regionals

The USC Men's Golf Team poses with a gigantic ticket at the Winston-Salem Regional

Photo by: Kyle Cajero

USC Men’s Golf Qualifies for First NCAA Championships Since 2019

May 20, 2026 | Men's Golf

Final Leaderboard Round 3 Results

The Trojans fired their best round of the tournament to place fourth with an 825 (-27) total.

BERMUDA RUN, N.C. — After having one of the most successful seasons in recent memory, the USC Men's Golf Team punched its ticket to the program's first NCAA Championship in seven years by placing fourth at the Winston-Salem Regional in Bermuda Run, N.C. on Wednesday, May 20.

Beginning the day above the cutline in fifth place, USC fired a season-low 268 (-16) on the par-71, 7,013-yard Bermuda Run Golf Club course to finish in fourth place out of 14 teams with an 825 (-27) total. The Trojans will be making their first NCAA Championship final site appearance under Head Coach Mark Hankins and the program's first since 2019.

"It took us a few rounds to really get a great feel for the course, but we were steady throughout the tournament with different guys propping us up," Hankins said. "It felt similar to our grind at Big Tens last week and Georgia Tech earlier in the year, as we kept hanging in there until we got a few guys going low. There were lots of great individual performances this week for a solid team performance. Four guys in the top 25 was a great team effort."

The stellar round was a collective effort: All five Trojans finished at par or better, while all four of USC's scoring players had bogey-free front sides in their final rounds. Several players either set or matched their best career performances at the Winston-Salem Regional. Junior Nicolas Dominguez tied his best tournament score with a 206, while freshman Raghav Gulati fired a collegiate-best 66 (-5) to help the Trojans on Wednesday. The team's 268 tied the fifth-lowest team round in program history and was the second-best round of the tournament by one stroke.

Dominguez led the Trojans by tying for 10th place with a 206 (-7) total. The junior earned his fourth top-10 finish of the season after firing a 69 (-2) in the final round. Dominguez had three birdies and made a push for the top five on the front side, then found trouble on the back side with three bogeys to just two birdies. However, thanks to his steady play, he was the only Trojan to finish under par in all three rounds.

Rising 20 spots up the leaderboard in the final round, Jaden Dumdumaya fired a team-best 65 (-6) to move into a tie for 18th. He started off strong with three birdies in the first four holes, then lowered his score with a fourth birdie on No. 17 to wrap up the front side. Dumdumaya then rattled off three consecutive birdies from Nos. 4-6 on the back side before having his lone bogey of the day on the par-3 No. 8. Thanks to his round, Dumdumaya was the second-biggest riser of the day, trailing Georgia Tech's Hiroshi Tai, who moved up 30 places.

Senior Antonio Safa fired a 71 (E) to finish in a tie for 20th with a 209 (-4) total. Safa found trouble on the front side with a double-bogey to start the round and a bogey three holes later, yet the senior lowered his score with two birdies on the front side and two more on the back side. This was his fourth top-20 finish of the season.

Sophomore Jack Buchanan tied for 25th with a 210 (-3), making USC one of just two teams with all four scorers inside the top 25 (the other was Pepperdine, which tied for first). Buchanan had a strong start with three birdies on the front side before finding trouble with three consecutive bogeys after making the turn. He recovered with an eagle on the par-5 No. 6 and capped off his final-round 68 (-3) with a birdie on No. 9.

Playing as a substitute, freshman Raghav Gulati had the second-best round of the tournament for USC with a 66 (-5), shattering his previous collegiate best by four strokes. Gulati had a bogey-free round with three birdies on the front side and two more on the back side.

No. 3 Virginia and No. 15 Pepperdine tied for first at -36, while No. 10 Ole Miss was five strokes behind in third place. After USC passed Mississippi State early on the front side, the Trojans finished one stroke ahead of the Bulldogs, who finished in fifth place to earn the final NCAA berth. Virginia's Ben James won the regional with a 194 (-19) total, while Kentucky's Jacob Long qualified individually for NCAAs by tying for fifth with a 204 (-9) total.

INDIVIDUAL SCORES
T10. Nicolas Dominguez, -7 (67-70-69=206)
T18. Jaden Dumdumaya, -5 (72-71-65=208)
T20. Antonio Safa, -4 (70-68-71=209)
T25. Jack Buchanan, -3 (69-73-68=210)
71. Raghav Gulati, -6 (SUB-70-66=N/A)
79. Luke Stock, +10 (81-SUB-SUB=N/A)

TEAM LEADERBOARD
T1. No. 3 Virginia, -36 (271-270-275=816)
T1. No. 15 Pepperdine, -36 (273-274-269=816)
3. No. 10 Ole Miss, -31 (278-269-274=821)
4. USC, -27 (278-279-268=825)
5. Mississippi State, -26 (278-272-276=826)
6. Houston, -18 (287-278-269=834)
7. NC State, -17 (287-275-273=835)
8. Wake Forest, -12 (278-286-276=840)
9. No. 22 Georgia Tech, -4 (283-289-267=848)
10. Kentucky, -2 (280-290-280=850)
11. Richmond, +7 (293-280-286=859)
12. Little Rock, +12 (298-280-286=864)
13. Presbyterian, +21 (290-290-293=873)
14. Navy, +24 (295-284-297=876)

UP NEXT
The Trojans will head south to Carlsbad, Calif. to compete in the NCAA Championships, held at the Omni La Costa Resort from May 28-June 3. All pertinent information can be found on the men's golf team's schedule page on usctrojans.com.