Justin Suh of USC, the top-ranked college golfer in the nation, started the Spring Season the same way he finished up in the Fall.
Suh, a junior from San Jose, birdied the last two holes to beat Viktor Hovland and Matthew Wolff, both of team champion Oklahoma State, by one stroke to win the Amer Ari Invitational on the Kings Course at Waikoloa Beach Resort in Waikoloa Village on the Big Island of Hawaii.
“Justin had another great week,” USC Coach Chris Zambri said of Suh, who captured the St. Mary’s Invitational at Pebble Beach in his last start in November. “He continues to show that he is a world class player. He birdies four of the last six holes. Big-time stuff.
“ … Overall, we got beat pretty badly by a great team in Oklahoma State. Our goal now is to get better and try to close the gap between them and us.”
Suh, who won for the third time this season, also had an eagle on the fourth hole while posting a score of 69-66-68—203, 13-under-par, to post his 11th straight finish in the top 20 dating to last season. He has posted seven straight rounds in the 60s.
Hovland shot 72-67-65—204 and his Cowboy teammate Wolff equaled that at 69-67-68—204, while Kaito Onishi of USC shot 69-67-69—205 to tie for fourth with Hayden Wood of Oklahoma State, who finished at 69-65-71—205.
Stefano Mazzoli of TCU totaled 69-72-65—206 to tie for sixth with Spencer Soosman of Texas, who wound up at 68-68-70—206, and Adam Blomme of Texas Tech, who came in at 68-68-70—206.
Alex Del Rey Gonzalez of Arizona State shot 71-68-68—207 to tie for ninth with Zach Bauchou of Oklahoma State, who finished at 70-68-69—207, Brandon Mancheno of Auburn, who wound up at 70-67-70—207, and Donald Kay of Oregon, who totaled 68-68-71—207.
Franklin Huang led Stanford in a tie for 13th at 69-70-69—208, while Thomas Hutchison of UC Davis tied for 20th at 73-65-71—209, Kevin Velo of San Jose State tied for 41st at 69-72-74—215 and Austin Fox of Pacific tied for 72nd 76-68-77—221.
Top-ranked Oklahoma State ran away with the team title with a score of 280-267-270—817, 47-under-par, followed by Texas Tech at 281-275-278—834, USC at 282-276-279—837 and Texas at 279-283-279—841.
Auburn carded a score of 286-279-277—842 to tie for fifth with Georgia Tech, which totaled 281-275-286—842, and TCU, which finished at 281-282-279—842.
Oregon was eighth at 287-275-284—846, followed by Arizona State at 289-279-280—848, and Stanford rounded out the top 10 at 288-282-282—852.
San Jose State posted a score of 282-289-296—867 to tie for 12th with UC Davis, which finished at 283-289-295—867, while Pacific was 16th at 305-288-307—900.
For complete results, visit http://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=14673.
