USC Looks To Maintain Momentum At Amer Ari Invitational In Hawaii

The USC men's golf team, featuring All-American junior Kaito Onishi and exciting freshman Yuxin Lin while coming off of its best result of the season, continues the spring slate at the 2020 Amer Ari Invitational, Thursday through Saturday (Feb. 6-8), at the Waikoloa (Hawaii) Kings' Course.

The 20-school tournament hosted by Hawai'i and Hawai'i-Hilo also includes Arizona State, Auburn, Colorado, CSUN, Georgia Tech, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Oregon State, Osaka Gakuin (Japan), Pacific, Pepperdine, San Jose State, Stanford, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech, UC Davis and USC

Play will begin with shotgun starts at 9:30 a.m. PT each day. Live scoring of the event will be here available at Golfstat.com.

USC is a two-time champion of the tournament with titles in 2009 and 2016. USC has had three players finish first. Justin Suh won the event in 2018 while Jeffrey Kang captured first in 2012. Rico Hoey tied for first in 2017 but fell in a three-way playoff.

SPRING START
USC kicked off its spring slate with a strong start, tying for a season-best second at the Southwestern Invitational (Jan. 27-28). Junior Leon D'Souza finished a Trojan-career-best second at 11-under (70-68-67) while leading USC. Troy, playing without junior Kaito Onishi due to an injury, closed with a 9-under final round to tie No. 10 Arizona State at 3-over 867 (299-289-279).

SEASON LEADERS
Junior Leon D'Souza entered the first spring event with four rounds in the 60s and now leads the squad with six (in nine outings). His 69.22 stroke average also tops the squad. Freshman Yuxin Lin is second on the squad in both stroke average (70.78) and rounds in the 60s (five).

D'Souza owns a pair of top two finishes while junior Kaito Onishi has a top 3 and Lin has three in the top 15.

FALL SEASON NOTES
The Trojans, playing without former world No. 1 and current pro Justin Suh for the first time in four years, tied for fifth in the season-opening Maui Jim Intercollegiate. They were led by Yuxin Lin, who tied for 12th in his collegiate debut while Issei Tanabe tied for 21^st. USC was 11^th at the Nike Golf Collegiate.

Junior college transfer Leon D'Souza led three Trojans, who all played individually, in the Bill Cullum Invitational, tying for second at 13-under 203 (69-66-68). He finished five shots out of first. D'Souza posted three birdies and an eagle on the par 5 2^nd hole in the final round. That followed his five-birdie, one-eagle performance in the second round and a seven-birdie first round.

USC then finished 11^th at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate. Kaito Onishi tied for third to lead the Trojans with a 5-under 211 (70-73-68). That matched his second-best effort as a Trojan.

BIG LIN WIN
USC freshman Yuxin Lin overcame a two-shot deficit at the start of the day, let slip a one-stroke advantage on 18, and then bounced back to win a two-hole playoff to capture the 2019 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championships at the Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai, China, on Sept. 19.

Lin became just the second two-time winner of the event while earning berths into the 2019 Masters and Open Championships.

Playing on home soil, the Beijing-native birdied the 18^th hole twice in a playoff to defeat world No. 1 and defending champion Takumi Kanaya. Lin birdied the first playoff hole from about 10 feet to stay alive and then used a tap-in birdie to win the championship thanks to a magical bunker shot that landed within inches of the cup. Lin began the day two off the lead and finished at 10-under 278 (68-71-71-68), tied with Kanaya. Lin bogeyed 18 to give Kanaya the opportunity in the event's first-ever playoff.

Lin will also play in the Genesis Open Collegiate Showcase at Riviera C.C. on Feb. 10.

USC OVERVIEW
USC, a three-time winner last year, returns four players from last year's squad in senior Kyle Suppa, juniors Issei Tanabe and Kaito Onishi and sophomore Cameron Henry. Sophomore Charlie Reiter compete in the fall semester before transferring.

The Trojans are tasked with replacing the production of the graduated Justin Suh, the former world amateur No. 1 and also the 2019 Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year for men's golf. He was a four-time All-American and USC's first back-to-back first team selection (2018-19) since Jamie Lovemark (2007-08). He finished his senior season with a team-best 69.39 average, second-best in program history behind his own record (68.73), earning his third straight All-Pac-12 first team nod. Suh, a 2019 All-Nicklaus Team pick, had seven top-4 finishes in 2019 including two wins.

The Trojans, also without Ryan Slater and Owen Calvin-Smith from last year's roster, figure to be led this year by Onishi, a 2019 PING All-American honorable mention selection who was second on the Trojans in stroke average (71.55) to go with five top 10 finishes. He is not playing this weekend, however.

The 2018 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and a 2019 All-Pac-12 first teamer had 13 rounds in the 60s as a sophomore. Among his five top 10s were a third at the Fighting Illini Invitational at 3-under 207 (68-69-70) and a tie for third at The Goodwin at 2-under 208 (69-66-73).

Suppa is the lone senior on the squad this year. He started all 13 events last year and finished with a 73.46 stroke average in 37 rounds. He had five 19 finishes and seven rounds under 70. He tied for fourth at 5-under 208 (73-68-67) at the Saint Mary's Invitational – a career-best effort – and tied for seventh at 5-under 211 (70-67-74) at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate Invitational.

Tanabe is the only other returning upperclassmen. A 2019 All-Pac-12 honorable mention selection, he was third on the Trojans with a stroke average of 72.42 in 38 rounds, including 12 rounds in the 60s, third-best on the team. He had four top 13 finishes, including a USC career-best second in Troy's come-from behind win at the Saint Mary's Invitational at 8-under 205 (72-68-65).

Henry played in just one tournament as a freshman but made the most of it, tying for fifth at 4-under 206 (66-69-71).

The Trojans welcome three newcomers in junior transfer Leon D'Souza and freshmen Tyler Guo and Yuxin Lin.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Owen Calvin-Smith

Leon D’Souza

Tyler Guo

Cameron Henry

Yuxin Lin

Kaito Onishi

Charlie Reiter

Ryan Slater

Justin Suh

Kyle Suppa

Issei Tanabe