After a six-week hiatus from competition, No. 24 USC men’s golf returned to action with a pair of March tournaments, featuring some standout individual performances that ultimately weren’t enough to lead the team to the top.

The Trojans finished 10th out of 15 teams at the low-scoring Desimone Invitational, after climbing as high as fourth during the final round. The tournament took place in Daly City on March 9-10. 

On Monday and Tuesday, USC participated in the Valspar Collegiate Invitational, one of the premiere regular season collegiate golf tournaments, placing 13th out of 16 top teams. Sophomore Jaden Dumdumaya led the way, tying for seventh place overall and adding the third-best round relative to par in program history with his opening round bogey-free 8-under 63.

There were bright spots across the roster in March, but the Trojans will look to continue finding ways to improve as the Big Ten Tournament and NCAA Regionals loom.

Gulati, Buchanan stand out at Desimone Invitational

In the inaugural Desimone Invitational, the Trojans combined to shoot 6-under par en route to 10th place. After starting the third and final round in 11th, USC started strong on the back nine with a combined 11 birdies on holes 10-14 to climb the leaderboard to fourth place before struggling on the closing nine. 

Freshman Raghav Gulati was the highlight of the invitational for the Trojans, earning his first collegiate top-20 finish. Gulati played three steady rounds on the 6,915-yard, par-72 layout, shooting even-par after 36 holes on the first day and following that up with the best round of his collegiate career, a closing 3-under 69 that featured five birdies to finish in a tie for 20th. 

“My hard work’s actually paying off,” Gulati said in an interview with USC Athletics. “It’s good to see some good results, but it’s on to the next event. I think this is a pretty big motivator for me personally, but as a team, we’ve got some stuff to clean up and we’re looking forward to the next event.”

Sophomore Jack Buchanan was USC’s only other player to end in red figures, tying for 28th at 2-under for the tournament. After opening with an even-par 72, Buchanan fired a 4-under 68. 

His impressive second round was unforgettable in more ways than one: Buchanan posted a back-nine 31 that included a hole-in-one on the 149-yard par-three 13th and another eagle on the par-five 18th. At 6-under for the round late in the day, Buchanan bogeyed his final two holes to settle for 68. Had he parred the final two holes, Buchanan would have finished with a 66.

Despite his 38th-place finish, senior Antonio Safa was in a groove during the first two rounds. Safa shot 1-under 71 in the first, then followed it up with an electrifying six-birdie 68. However, Safa struggled to finish his superb round strong, double-bogeying the par-four sixth, his second-to-last hole. 

His 5-under total put him in 14th place entering the final day. Safa opened his final round with three birdies in his first five holes, before he shot 9-over par in his next 13 holes for a 78.

Dumdumaya secures all-time Trojan round

Earlier this week, the Trojans traveled to the Floridian National Golf Club in Palm City for a tournament featuring five of the top 10-ranked golf teams in the nation, including No. 1 Auburn. 

USC’s 14-under total was enough to finish in 13th in the competitive 16-team field. 

Dumdumaya, the No. 49 ranked player in the country, who didn’t play in the Desimone, put together a remarkable tournament as he continues to etch his name into the USC men’s golf record books. After shooting a 9-under 63 on Oct. 7, 2025, at the Trinity Forest Invitational — the second-best round relative to par in USC history — he followed it up with yet another 63, this time 8-under-par, to kick off his tournament.

“It means a lot knowing that my name is up there with the best of the best and people who have a lot of history here at the school,” Dumdumaya said in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “It’s definitely inspiring and keeps me coming back and wanting to continue to put my name up there in the record books, so hopefully I can keep on pushing and hopefully claim the top spot one day.”

He continued to attack in the second round, posting a 3-under 68 that put him in a tie for first place with junior Tyler Weaver from Florida State heading into the third and final round on Tuesday. 

With a chance at his first collegiate win, Dumdumaya came out of the gates firing in the final round, shooting 3-under on his first nine holes; however, he made three bogeys on his last six holes to finish 1-under for the day and 12-under for the tournament. The closing bogeys proved costly, as Dumdumaya tied for seventh, three shots back of the eventual first-place playoff. 

“In the moment, I was a little bummed out that I had the lead for basically the whole tournament and it came down to the last few holes where I kinda found myself falling a little bit,” Dumdumaya said. “But when I looked back on it, I’m pretty proud of my play and very excited to see a lot of good progression and positive feedback from my game. I like to see the confidence.”

Buchanan was the next best Trojan at the Valspar at 3-under, good for 34th place. Redshirt senior Luke Stock responded after a second-round 74 to conclude his tournament on a high note, shooting a 3-under 68 on the final day. He rebounded from a slow start in Tuesday’s final round with four birdies in his final seven holes. 

USC next tees it up at the Cowboy Classic in Maricopa, Arizona, beginning on Tuesday — one of just two tournaments remaining before the Big Ten Championship in Oregon, starting May 1.