USC, Behind Top-Ranked Justin Suh, Set For Saint Mary's Invitational

The USC men's golf team, led by Golfweek's No. 1 ranked player, Justin Suh, returns for its final fall tournament at the 2017 Saint Mary's Invitational, Monday through Wednesday (Nov. 6-8), at the Poppy Gills G.C. in Pebble Beach, Calif.

The Trojans and host Saint Mary's will be joined by Arizona, BYU, Colorado State, Fresno State, Nevada, Oregon State, San Diego State, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Stanford, Texas State, Toledo, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, Texas-Arlington and Washington State.

Play on the par 71, 7,002-yard course will start at 7:30 a.m. each day with results at Golfstat.com.

USC's lineup will include Suh, sophomore Kyle Suppa, freshmen Kaito Onishi and Issei Tanabe and junior Sam Kim while sophomore Ryan Slater will play individually.

USC has been led this year by Suh, who is averaging 68.22 strokes in nine early season rounds, leading to a trio of top 10 finishes this fall, including one win. He captured his second career collegiate title at the Trinity Forest Invitational at 10-under 203 (67-69-67) after tying for ninth in the season-opener at the OFCC/Fighting Illini Invite at even 210 (70-69-71).

Suh followed up his win with a tie 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 now has nine straight top 20 finishes dating back to last season, eight of which have been in the top 11.

Suppa is second on the squad in stroke average (72.44) with Onishi third (72.56). Suppa has a pair of top 33 finishes, including a tie for 20^th, while Onishi has a pair of top 28 results.

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. Both are ranked among the top 50 amateurs in the world.

Also returning from last year is Suppa, who saw spot action as a 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.

Players Mentioned

Rico Hoey

Sam Kim

Kaito Onishi

Ryan Slater

Justin Suh

Kyle Suppa

Issei Tanabe