Justin Suh of USC captured the individual title and led the top-ranked Trojans to their fourth victory of the season by 18 strokes over Stanford in the 71st annual Western Intercollegiate at Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz.
USC posted a score if 347-348-355–1050, 5-over-par, followed by Stanford at 351-347-370–1068, Oregon at 353-363-354–1070, Pepperdine at 361-364-353–1078 and Washington at 355-355-369–1079.
Arizona was sixth at 364-361-357–1082, followed by Texas El Paso at 361-356-367–1084, Texas at 362-364-359–1085, UCLA at 361-367-358–1086 and Arizona State at 357-356-376–1089.
UC Irvine finished 11th at 376-367-364–1107, followed by San Diego State at 370-364-375–1109, California at 373-368-369–1110 and San Jose State at 370-388-376–1134.
“It felt close the whole way,” Coach Chris Zambri of USC said. “Stanford put up a heck of a fight. This course is a little scary. And you never feel safe whenever you face Stanford. Shots can disappear quickly.”
Suh (pictured), a sophomore from San Jose, carded a scored of 68-67-70–205, 5-under, while Joshua McCarthy of Pepperdine shot 70-69-70–209 to tie for second with Sean Crocker of USC, who finished at 72-70-67–209.
Three of Suh’s five birdies in the final round came in a span of five holes through No. 13 and gave him the lead for good.
“That really got the round going,” said Suh, a graduate of Evergreen Valley High who started on the fifth hole. “After that, it was all about playing smart. It feels unbelievable. Unreal, but I’m loving it. To do it near my hometown feels great.”
Maverick McNealy of Stanford finished fourth at 68-68-74–210, while Isaiah Salinda totaled 69-66-76–211 to tie for fifth with Stanford teammate Bradley Knox, who wound up at 71-70-70–211, and Wyndham Clark of Oregon, who came in at 71-73-67–211.
Jonah Texeira of Stanford recorded a score of 68-73-71–212 to tie for eighth with Norman Xiong of Oregon, who wound up at 72-70-70–212, and Charles Corner of Texas El Paso, who finished at 72-69-71–212.
David Kim led UC Irvine in a tie for 11th at 74-69-70–213, Cole Madey shot 74-75-65–214 to finish in a tie for 16th that included his UCLA teammate Corey Shaun, who totaled 71-70-73–214, Finigan Tilly of Cal tied for 30th at 74-71-72–217 and Kevin Velo of San Jose State tied for 35th at 70-77-71–218,
Nahum Mendoza III finished at 76-74-71–221 and wound up in a tie for 47th that included his San Diego State teammates PJ Samiere, who shot 68-74-79–221, and Gunn Yang, who came in at 77-70-74–221
Rounding out the scoring for champion USC were Rico Hoey, whose total of 72-71-72–215 left him in a tie for 21st with teammate Andrew Levitt, who totaled 73-67-75–215, and Cheng Jin, who tied for 39th at 67-77-75–219.
William Aldred of Cal had two of the five holes in one during the tournament, scoring with a 9-iron on the 15th hole of the second round and with a 7-iron on the eighth hole of the third round.
“That’s pretty unreal,” Aldred said.
The others were by Hunter Epson of Pepperdine with a pitching wedge on the 15th hole in round one, Robert Geibel of Pepperdine with a 5-iron on the third hole of round one, and Daniel List of Washington with a 6-iron on the eighth hole in round three.
