Men’s golf will swing into second tournament of the year
The Trojans hope to maintain momentum following a statement team win last week.
Fresh off winning the Whirlwind Invitational to open the 2025-26 season, men’s golf will travel to Albuquerque, New Mexico, for its second tournament of the year. The William H. Tucker Intercollegiate will take place from Sept. 19-20.
The Trojans are currently unranked alongside this weekend’s opponents, according to NBC Sports’ preseason rankings. Last year, Colorado won the tournament with a total of 852 strokes, with University of New Mexico following close behind with 853. Both will be making a return this weekend. With two returning players in Colorado’s starting lineup, the Buffaloes could be competitive in the tournament this year.
USC finished the previous Tucker Invitational with 887 strokes, just one shot away from making it into the top 10 out of 17 teams. Senior Antonio Safa had the highest score of the Trojans at last year’s tournament, placing just outside the top 25.
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Coming off of last week’s effort, Head Coach Mark Hankins sang the team’s praises, highlighting the competitive performances of sophomores Jack Buchanan and Jaden Dumdumaya.
“They weren’t too far behind Antonio. I think they were pushing him until the very end,” Hankins said in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “[Safa] got the best of them, but that just motivates them even more to go out into this next tournament, and that’s what you want.”
Hankins said the individualistic style of golf motivates each player to perform well to help the team’s standing as well as their own.
“The best way to be a leader is just to take care of yourself and go out and shoot a good round,” Hankins said. “You don’t have to say anything. You don’t have to act any way. You just got to go take care of business, put up your scores.”
A first-place finish for Safa at the Whirlwind Invitational catapulted him from the fifth to the first spot for the upcoming tournament. Dumdumaya and Buchanan took the second and third spots, respectively, thanks to their performance in the previous weekend. Freshman Raghav Gulati and junior Nicolas Dominguez had to qualify for their spots at practice.
“I think we’ve got a pretty deep team this year,” Hankins said. “There’s good competitiveness through the lineup, and I think that continues to motivate these guys.”
The Trojans will take on their second tournament of the year beginning Sept. 19.
