You’re the No. 1 player on the World Amateur Golf Ranking
(WAGR) and you have a 12-footer for birdie on the 18th hole to give
your team the victory. You’ve already got the individual championship wrapped
up. So, you bury it, right?
That’s exactly what Southern California’s Justin Suh, a senior from
San Jose, Calif., did Tuesday to lift the Trojans, No. 6 in the latest Golfstat rankings, to a one-shot victory
over Pac-12 rival California in the
Southwestern Invitational at the North Ranch Country Club in Westlake
Village, Calif.
It was the third tournament win of the 2018-’19 season for
Southern Cal, the reigning Pac-12 champion. The Trojans were 30-under par in
The Amer Ari Invitational in Hawaii to open the spring portion of their season,
but that was only good enough to finish tied for fourth against a loaded field.
Suh’s birdie conversion at the last gave the reigning Pac-12
champion a third straight 4-under-par 68 over the 6,992-yard, par-72 Lakes and
Oaks nines at North Ranch for a 12-under 204 total that was four shots better
than runnerup Clay Feagler, a junior at Pepperdine out of Laguna Niguel, Calif.
Southern Cal had carded rounds of 4-under 284 and 3-under
285 in Monday’s double-round to take a five-shot lead into the final round. Not
everybody completed both rounds when darkness fell Monday and those who didn't had to return to
finish their second round Tuesday morning.
No. 15 California and No. 35 UCLA caught and passed the
Trojans before they battled back. Kaito Onishi, a sophomore from Bradenton,
Fla., birdied the 18th to draw Southern Cal even with California and
set the stage for Suh’s heroics. The Golfstat
rankings have changed since the completion of the Southwestern Invitational, so
I went with the latest rankings.
Suh’s birdie putt gave the Trojans a 3-over 291 in the final
round and a 4-under 860 total. California closed with a 5-under 283, the low
team round of the tournament, to finish a shot behind Southern Cal at 3-under
861.
Southern Cal’s cross-town rival UCLA was another four shots
behind California in third at 1-over 865. The Bruins opened with a 2-under 286
and matched par with a 288 in the afternoon round Monday before closing with a
3-over 291.
Tournament host Pepperdine, ranked 13th, was
another four shots behind UCLA in fourth at 5-over 869 after closing strong
with a 3-under 285.
No. 25 Tennessee took a western road trip and finished
fifth, eight shots behind Pepperdine at 13-over 877. The Volunteers, out of the
Southeastern Conference, finished up with an 8-over 296.
No. 59 San Jose State carded a solid 1-over 289 in the final
round to finish a shot behind Tennessee in sixth in the 12-team field at
14-over 878.
Onishi backed up Suh for Southern Cal, finishing among the
group tied for 10th at even-par 216 even though his closing birdie
only gave him a final round of 3-over 75. Onishi’s opening round of 3-under 69
had helped the Trojans start fast.
Kyle Suppa, a junior from Honolulu, had a clutch 1-under 71
in the final round to finish alone in 19th place at 3-over 219.
Sam Kim, a senior from Irvine, Calif., and Issei Tanabe, a
sophomore from Huntingdon Beach, Calif., both landed among the group tied for
38th at 9-over 225. Kim finished up with a 5-over 77. Tanabe, whose
final-round 79 was a throw-out, had opened with an even-par 72.
Competing as an individual, Charlie Reiter, a freshman from
Palm Desert, Calif., made his case for a spot in the first five as he finished
among the group tied for 32nd at 7-over 223. His final-round 74
would have been a counter.
When the second round was finally complete, it was
Pepperdine’s Feagler who was the individual leader as he fired a sparkling 6-under
66 in the second round that left him a shot ahead of Suh at 9-under 135. He
backed off in the final round with a 1-over 73 that left him four shots behind
Suh in second at 8-under 208.
You can’t feel too bad when you finish in between No. 1 and
No. 2 in the WAGR. No. 2 would be California’s Collin Morikawa, a senior from
La Canada Flintridge, Calif. who went 4-0 in the 2017 Walker Cup Match at Los
Angeles Country Club to help the United States roll to a 19-7 victory over
Great Britain & Ireland.
Morikawa had a pair of 2-under 70s in Monday’s double-round
and closed with a 1-under 71 to finish alone in third, three shots behind
Feagler at 5-under 211.
Two of Morikawa’s teammates, Sebastian Crampton, a redshirt
senior from Pacific Grove, Calif., and Kaiwen Liu, a sophomore from San Diego,
finished among a group of five players tied for fourth at 3-under 213, two
shots behind Morikawa.
Unfortunately for the Golden Bears, Liu was competing as an
individual. But that’s what all these tournaments are for, to figure out your best
six for the Pac-12 Championship and your best five for the rest of the
postseason.
Crampton and Liu each closed with a 3-under 69 to get it to
3-under for the tournament.
Rounding out the quintet at 3-under were UCLA’s Sean
Maruyama, a freshman from Encino, Calif., Loyola Marymount’s Gavin Cohen, a
senior from Tucson, Ariz., and San Jose State’s Kevin Velo, a senior from
Danville, Calif.
Maruyama ripped off the low round of the tournament, a
scintillating 7-under 65, in the second round, but closed with a 3-over 75. He
had opened with a 1-over 73. Cohen got it going in the second round as well
with a 4-under 68 before closing with an even-par 72. Velo struggled in the
second round with a 3-over 75, but surrounded that with an opening round of
3-under 69 and a final round of 4-under 68.
No comments:
Post a Comment