USC dropped putts Monday. Come Tuesday, the only thing dropping was its place on the leaderboard.

In the first tournament of the 2026-27 season, USC men’s golf slid from third place to fifth Tuesday at the two-day Bombs Darts Birds Collegiate at Whirlwind Golf Club in Chandler, Arizona, after closely contesting the lead for 36 holes during Monday’s play. Santa Clara University claimed victory at 50-under-par, fending off the host Trojans, who finished 16 strokes back.

Thirteen teams competed in the 54-hole tournament at the par-72, 7,334-yard course. Competition was split across back-to-back 18-hole rounds Monday and a final, 18-hole round Tuesday.

Monday’s success came after all eight Trojans finished under par — including three who competed independently, with two finding the top 10. Amid the blistering Arizona heat, USC went 19-under-par through Round 1 and 14 under in Round 2 to cap the day at 33 under.

Despite the early success, the Trojans were unable to bring it home Tuesday — nor did they come close.

USC combined for one-under-par Tuesday, the highest team score of the day and a tie for the worst single-day score in the tournament.

The sluggish performance not only left USC well short of Santa Clara, but also 13 strokes behind New Mexico State University, despite USC entering the day only trailing both schools by just a few strokes.

USC finished 34-under-par, tied with Eastern Michigan University, which climbed four spots Tuesday.

“Top five is good, but if I would have told you that that was our expectation, I’d be lying,” Head Coach Mark Hankins said in a postgame interview. “I think we were looking more like top three and we just didn’t play well the last day, and that’s something we’re gonna have to get better at.”

Dumdumaya, Hou hit the ground running

Junior Jaden Dumdumaya led the Trojans’ charge in Monday’s first round after an eagle on the par-5 second hole en route to a bogey-free, eight-under-par 64 that tied for the best round of the day. Dumdumaya left Whirlwind on Monday as a co-leader, firing four-under-par 68 in Round 2.

Freshman William Hou was close behind in Round 1 — his first-ever college round — at six-under-par despite two bogeys in his first five holes. He followed up with a 69 later that day.

USC’s performance on Monday was reminiscent of the season-opening win at the 2025 Whirlwind Invitational at the same course, in which the Trojans’ commanding victory was aided by an authoritative first day of competition. Unlike last year, USC was unable to keep up with the field on Tuesday.

Santa Clara, which USC battled most of Monday, posed the biggest threat entering the second day. All but one Bronco sat even or better after Round 2, including junior Jared Abercrombie, who went 12-under-par on the day.

Santa Clara teammates freshman Ryan Xie and junior Emil Nielsen were close behind at 9- and 8-under-par, respectively.

Trojans come up short in Round 3

USC sat two strokes behind first-place Santa Clara and one behind second-place New Mexico State entering Tuesday, but it wasn’t just stiff competition that caused USC to fall behind. Only two Trojans in the team portion broke par, while the other two finished over in Round 3.

Senior Nicolas Dominguez was among the top scorers, shooting four-under-par in Round 3. Sophomore Hendrik-Luka Schmitz joined Dominguez at the top, going one-under-par 71.

The day’s low point for the Trojans came on the 245-yard, par-3 10th and 481-yard, par-4 11th, during which USC’s four scoring players went a combined 11-over-par that included three double bogeys.

“Can you control that? Yeah, maybe,” Hankins said. “But just a few bad swings there on a pretty tough hole kind of killed us. In a field where a lot of guys are going low, you just cannot make those doubles.”

Three Trojans still finished in the top 25 despite Tuesday’s struggles: graduate senior Deitrek Gill, who played as an individual, in seventh; Dominguez in a tie for 17th and Dumdumaya in a tie for 23rd.

While USC entered Round 3 in position for a stronger finish, this week’s performance isn’t far off from its historic run last season, when the Trojans finished with four wins and six top-five finishes.

“It’s a new year, it’s a new team, and we got to learn how to close out tournaments,” Hankins said. “So we didn’t do a very good job this week, and we get another shot this weekend.”

The Trojans will look to follow up this week’s performance with an even stronger one at the inaugural Vuori Invitational on Monday and Tuesday, hosted by the University of San Diego.

Twelve teams on the West Coast, including USC, will compete in the same 54-hole format at the 7,035-yard, par-72 Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe, California in near-perfect weather for golfing.