USC held off fourth-ranked Texas by two strokes to claim its first victory of the season in the Southern Highlands Collegiate at Southern Highlands Golf Club https://southernhighlands.com in Las Vegas.
The Trojans, who built a nine-stroke lead after two rounds, posted a score of 287-283-291—861, 3-under-par, while Texas finished at 292-287-284—863, followed by Texas Tech at 295-288-281—864 and Florida at 295-288-287—870.
“I’m elated for our team,” said USC Coach Chris Zambri, whose Trojans have won 33 times in his 14 seasons. “We haven’t had the kind of year we’ve wanted to until this week. I’m really happy for them. We’ve worked hard all year. This is a great team and we’re moving in the right direction.”
Pepperdine totaled 304-283-286—873 to tie for fifth with UCLA, which finished at 293-293-287—873, while Oklahoma was seventh at 298-292-284—874.
SMU posted a score of 300-292-285—877 to tie for eighth with Georgia, which wound up at 296-293-288—877, and Georgia Tech was 10th at 302-292-284—878.
Sophomore Parker Coody of Texas came from seven shots behind in the final round to card a score of 73-68-67—208, 8-under, and catch freshman Yuxin Lin of USC, who finished at 67-67-74—208.
Coody got even with a birdie on the final hole of regulation and claimed his first college title with a par on the first playoff hole.
Devon Bling of UCLA was third 68-73-68—209, while Sahith Theegala of Peppedine shot 76-65-69—210 to tie for fourth with Mac Meissner of SMU, who finished at 71-69-70—210, while Davis Thompson of Georgia totaled 67-75-69—211 to tie for sixth with Ricky Castillo of Florida, who wound up at 71-68-72—211.
Ludvig Aberg of Texas Tech was eighth at 73-68-71—212, while Issei Tanabe of USC shot 71-74-69—214 to tie for ninth with Johnny Travale of Central Florida, who finished at 71-76-67—214, John Axelsen of Florida, who wound up at 74-71-69—214, and Evan Katz of Duke, who came in at 71-73-70—214.
Rounding out the scoring for team champion USC were Cameron Henry in solo 25th at 72-70-77—219, Kaito Onishi in a tie for 43rd at 77-75-71—223, and Sixian Guo, who shot 83-77-70—230 to finish in a tie for 67th that included Trojan teammate Leon D’Souza, who finished at 79-72-79—230.
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