Trojans Headed To Vegas, Looking For Some Aces At Southern Highlands Collegiate

The No. 17 USC men's golf team, led by Golfweek's No. 1 ranked player and three-time winner this year, Justin Suh, heads to Las Vegas for the annual Southern Highlands Collegiate at the Southern Highlands G.C., Monday through Wednesday (March 5-7).

Southern Highlands Collegiate
USC is the two-time defending champion of the event, winning the title last year at 11-under 853 (278-291-284) and at 5-over 869 (292-280-297) in 2016.

The field this year includes, in addition to host UNLV and USC, Alabama, BYU, Florida, Illinois, Northwestern, Oklahoma, Pepperdine, SMU, TCU, Texas Tech, UCF, UCLA and Washington. Results will be available at Golfstat.com.

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

Trojan Notes

USC, under 12^th-year head coach Chris Zambri, has been led this year by Suh, a three-time winner in six events this season who is averaging a remarkable 68.06 strokes in 17 rounds, leading to six top 9 finishes. His stroke average is under the season school record set by Jamie Lovemark (70.10, 2007).

He captured his second career collegiate title and first of the season at the Trinity Forest Invitational at 10-under 203 (67-69-67). 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. 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.

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 seventh-ranked amateur in the world, has 13 rounds in the 60s this season in 17 rounds, including a recent streak of seven in a row. He now has 12 straight top 20 finishes dating back to last season, 10 of which have been inside the top 9 and 11 in the top 11.

Suh, whose three wins are the most by a Trojan in one season since Jamie Lovemark won four events as a 2007 freshman, was ranked No. 1 in the second 2018 rankings for the Arnold Palmer cup, topped the first watch list for the 2018 Haskins Award and is among 27 collegiate golfers on the watch list for the 2018 Ben Hogan Award. He is 27-6-2 vs. the Top 25 this year, 54-9-3 vs. the top 50 and 92-12-3 vs. the top 100.

Onishi (71.71) and Suppa (71.24) are second and third, respectively, in stroke average on the team. Onishi had a recent run of five straight rounds under 70, snapped at The Prestige at PGA West. Still, his five rounds in the 60s are second most on the team and Onishi was also included on the most recent 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).

Suppa 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.

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. Jin is fourth on the team in stroke average at 72.93

Also returning from last year is Suppa, who saw spot action as a 2017 freshman reserve, Slater (who sat out last year), and redshirt sophomore Ing Ratanavadi, another reserve.

The Trojans welcomes four newcomers, including freshmen Onishi, Owen Calvin-Smith and Issei Tanaba 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 while Tanabe is at 75.36.

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Players Mentioned

Owen Calvin-Smith

Rico Hoey

Cheng Jin

Sam Kim

Kaito Onishi

Ing Ratanavadi

Justin Suh

Kyle Suppa

Issei Tanabe