No. 5 USC Looks To Defend Title At Saint Mary's Invitational

The No. 5 USC men's golf team, featuring the world's new No. 1 amateur in senior Justin Suh and coming off of its first win of the season, completes its fall schedule next week at the 2018 Saint Mary's Invitational, Monday through Wednesday (Nov. 5-7), looking to defend its title from last year at the Poppy Hills G.C. in Pebble Beach, Calif.

The Trojans, the defending 2018 Pac-12 champions, are part of an 18-team field that also includes host Saint Mary's, Arizona, BYU, Central Florida, Colorado State, Fresno State, Nevada, Oregon, Oregon State, Pepperdine, San Diego State, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Toledo, UNC Wilmington, Utah and Washington State

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

The Trojans, who won their previous event at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate Invitational while Player of the Year candidate Suh took medalist honors, will feature a starting five this week with Suh, juniors Cheng Jin and Kyle Suppa and sophomore s Kaito Onishi and Issei Tanabe. Freshman Charlie Reiter will compete individually.

USC won the Saint Mary's Invitational last year at 28-under 824 (287-268-269). Onishi shares the course record at Poppy Hills with former UCLA golfer Scott McCarron thanks to his 63 last season.

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 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 then won the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate with a dominating 14-under 202 (67-67-68), winning by four strokes while the Trojans held off Clemson by one stroke. Suppa posted a season-best tie for seventh at 5-under 211 (70-67-74).

Suh took over the top spot in the World Amateur Golf Rankings in mid-October, moving past Braden Thornberry while Cal's Collin Morikawa remained third. USC's next highest ranked player is Jin at No. 197 while Onishi is No. 288.

In Golfweek's individual rankings, Suh is fourth while Onishi is 14^th and Reiter is 56^th.

Suh's win in Atlanta was his seventh overall and he now has a team-best six rounds under 70. Tanabe and Onishi have three each. Suh also has eight rounds of par or better.

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.

Players Mentioned

Owen Calvin-Smith

Cameron Henry

Sam Kim

Kaito Onishi

Charlie Reiter

Ryan Slater

Justin Suh

Kyle Suppa

Issei Tanabe