Men’s and women’s golf tee off the regular season
The men’s golf season begins this weekend as USC hits the road for the Maui Jim Invitational, while the women start off at the Annika Invitational Monday. The Trojans are debuting fresh faces and hoping for successful results at both courses.
Men’s head coach Chris Zambri and women’s head coach Justin Silverstein said that they placed emphasis on competition amongst the players in the preseason. Both teams held intrasquad competitions where the five strongest performers earned spots in the starting lineup.
As the men’s team is coming in at No. 11 in the Golf Coaches Association of America’s preseason poll, the expectations will certainly be high for the team at the invite in Scottsdale, Ariz. The starting lineup includes senior Kyle Suppa, junior Issei Tanabe, junior transfer Leon D’Souza, freshman Yuxin Lin and sophomore Charlie Reiter.
After losing two-time All-American Justin Suh last season, whom Zambri called USC’s best men’s golfer ever, the Trojans will have to find strength in their younger players. The Maui Jim Invitational marks Lin’s first appearance in a college tournament, and Zambri is expecting big things out of the freshman.
“[Lin] is playing some really good golf,” Zambri said. “His game looks like he’s ready to make a huge impact right now.”
Zambri also suggested that although Suh’s talent will be missed, the Trojans’ depth may make them a better all-around team this season.
“I think we’re a little deeper this year than we were last year, and so it’s going to be hard for anyone to match the kind of year that Justin had, the kind of career that he had, but everyone clearly is hoping to,” Zambri said. “But even if we weren’t to get that kind of performance out of any one person, in total, I think we have a better team this year.
The Trojans will play throughout the weekend in a tough competition field that includes No. 10 Pepperdine and No. 2 Arizona State. As for the rest of the season, the men’s team will compete in several tournaments including the Nike Collegiate in Portland, Ore. and the Cypress Point Classic at Pebble Beach.
According to senior Kyle Suppa, the team’s objective this season is placing well in tournaments to establish a solid ranking for the postseason.
“Every tournament our goal is to win,” Suppa said. “That’s our main focus … We have to avoid bad tournaments because that can really hurt our ranking and affect our seeding going into the postseason.”
The women’s team will be heading to Lake Elmo, Minn. to compete in the Annika Invitational Monday. As a past champion of the event, the Trojans will face the top competitors in women’s college golf with No. 6 UCLA, No. 12 Arizona and No. 10 ASU all in the 54-hole stroke play. The starting lineup includes senior Aiko Leong, senior Allisen Corpuz, junior Jennifer Chang, junior Gabriela Ruffels and junior Alyaa Abdulghany.
WGCA, Golf Week and Golf Channel all ranked the women’s golf team No. 1 in their preseason polls. Coming off a seven-win season with all ten players returning, Silverstein’s squad is experienced and looking to continue its success.
“I think we’re so talented and so deep, that it helps prepare us for the end of the season with the tougher teams,” Silverstein said.
Silverstein stressed his belief that the team won’t be “truly satisfied” until it completes a clean sweep of the season, winning every tournament it enters. The Trojans’ competitions include the Windy City Collegiate Invitational starting at the end of September, Stanford Intercollegiate in October and the Pac-12 Preview in November.
“It’s a process for sure,” junior Jennifer Chang said. “Obviously we had a great year last year and, you know, we just want to keep it going, keep that momentum.”
As the competition season begins, both the men’s and women’s teams hope to prove that the work they put in during the preseason will show on the course. Their performances this weekend will indicate if the men’s team can recover from the loss of a star player and if the women’s team can maintain its all-star reputation.