Sophomore Rico Hoey and freshman Jonah Texeira led the way as USC claimed its second victory of the season by 11 strokes over Arizona State in the Bill Cullum Invitational at Wood Ranch Country Club in Simi Valley.
Jon Rahm of Arizona State rallied to claim the individual title, but Hoey finished second and Texeira wound up third as the Trojans put five players in the top 25.
USC posted a score of 275-280-278–833, followed by Arizona State at 279-278-287–844.
“It’s critical to have incoming players making an impact,” USC Coach Chris Zambri said. “Jonah was awesome this week. Rico did a great job as well. I’m happy for all us. We’ve been working hard.”
Washington State finished third at 282-293-286–861, followed by UC Irvine at 278-292-293–863, Santa Clara at 282-292-291–865, Pepperdine at 278-292-296–866, the University of San Diego at 284-287-297–868 and Sacramento State at 287-295-289–871.
Fresno State was 11th at 285-293-298–876, followed by Cal State Northridge at 293-294, 290–877, Long Beach State at 292-292-296–880, UC Riverside at 292-296-294–882 and Cal Poly (SLO) at 292-297-296–885.
UC Santa Barbara was 17th at 294-299-299–892, followed by Loyola Marymount at 293-304-296–893 and Cal State Fullerton at 297-304-297–898.
Rahm, a junior from Spain, captured the fourth victory of his career with a score of 67-67-69–203, 13-under-par, followed by Hoey one stroke back at 65-67-72–204, and Texeira at 67-66-72–205.
Gio Gandionco of Santa Clara was fourth at 68-71-69–208, followed by his Bronco teammate Tyler Kertson at 70-69-70–209 and Justin De Los Santos of Cal Poly (SLO) 70-69-71–210.
Kevin DeHuff of Pepperdine shot 69-69-73–211 and finished in a tie for seventh that included Grant Forrest of the University of San Diego, who also wound up at 69-69-73–211, and Bobby Gojuangco of USC, who came in at 68-71-72–211.
Rounding out the Trojans’ top five, Sean Crocker shot 73-76-67–215 and wound up in a tie for 22nd that included teammate Paul Smith, who finished at 78-71-67–216.
