William Hou has come a long way since his first junior golf tournament. He was 6 years old in a competition with kids four years older, and only finished half the round before burning out and walking off in tears.

Now the freshman is beginning to find his footing after just two collegiate tournaments for USC men’s golf. In his first day of competition at the Bombs Darts Birds Collegiate season opener in early September, Hou shot what Head Coach Mark Hankins said could turn out to be one of the lowest rounds of the year — a six-under-par 66 — that initially helped propel the Trojans to place third in a field of 13 teams. 

When faced with a more challenging course at the Vuori Invitational a week later, Hou finished five-over-par — level with his upperclassmen teammates — after the first 36 holes of the 54-hole tournament.

Despite putting up impressive scores, Hou remains unfazed by his recent performance.

“I was not that surprised because I’ve been playing decent golf so far,” Hou said in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “I just made several putts and I was not that amazed.”

The pressure of competitive golf isn’t new to him. Hou currently sits at 255th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking and entered his first junior tournament when he was roughly 10 years old. He’s won several competitions, including the 2023 China Amateur Golf Classic. 

The freshman has since competed in the biggest junior tournaments in the United States: the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, the Junior PGA Championship and the Junior PLAYERS Championship. 

Hou’s scores have even caught the attention of college golf veterans like Steve Burkowski, a reporter, play-by-play announcer and the resident collegiate golf expert at Golf Channel.

“You sit here, and you look at these numbers at such a young age, and when I see those things pop off a page to me, you start keeping an eye on somebody and say, ‘Alright, I want to see if that was a fluke or one-off, or is there something sustainability-wise with him,’” Burkowski said.

A good track record isn’t enough to compete in collegiate tournaments, however. Hou had to qualify against his teammates and finish in the top three among them before he could enter Bombs Darts Birds or the Vuori.

He qualified for both, no small feat for a freshman, nor for one of the shortest hitters on the team. 

“As a freshman, you can’t be afraid of those older guys. … It’s not about the age; it’s about your skills; it’s about your techniques,” Hou said.

Hou wasted no time getting his season going: In Bombs Darts Birds, he birdied the first hole and went on to shoot a six-under-par 66 that tied for the third-lowest score of the tournament across the 81-player field. He followed it up later that day with a three-under 69 to end the day tied for seventh, just three strokes behind the Big Ten Player of the Year and his teammate, junior Jaden Dumdumaya.

While Hou’s final-round 75 the following day was an obvious departure from his prior scores, Burkowski emphasized that after bumps like that, the freshman should remember why he was recruited and who he is as a player.

“You need to be comfortable out there,” Burkowski said. “One of my favorite lines that I’ve heard through the years is, ‘How comfortable can you be in uncomfortable situations?’ Well, I’m sure [the final round was] uncomfortable for [Hou].”

Hou’s strong start and slow finish at Bombs Darts Birds, followed by an equally shaky finish at the Vuori, may be evidence that Burkowski was right: In the Vuori, Hou shot six-over and fell 15 spots in the tournament’s final 18 holes, but walked away unbothered again.

“I have a pretty great mentality and I’m not that emotional [after bad shots],” said Hou, who finished tied for 44th. “I can even laugh after a triple, because I know it’s done. It’s going to be a new story after this hole. So it already happened, and you can’t do anything to change it.”

His head coach concurs: Hankins, who has had several former players of his on the PGA Tour, said Hou’s mindset helped him keep up with his older teammates at both Bombs Darts Birds and the Vuori Invitational.

“You have to go play your own golf ball … and he knows how to do that,” Hankins said. “He went about it very professionally, and it paid off.” 

Whether Hou can match pace with other top NCAA freshmen is a different story, according to Burkowski. Most of Hou’s success has come from “an international perspective,” making it an unfair comparison to place him alongside top freshmen like the University of Tennessee’s Tyler Watts, who sits second in the WAGR.

Hou said he spends 20 hours practicing each week and roughly 25 more at the golf offices attending meetings and working on his short game.

“There’s a lot of fun things to do at USC and there’s a lot of other activities you can be doing at USC besides playing golf,” Hankins said. “But do you have what it takes? Are you driven enough to get your butt to the golf course every day in practice? … You’ve got to want to grind.”

Because of his sluggish finish in the Vuori Invitational, Hou said he has to try his best to qualify for the upcoming Trinity Forest Invitational in Dallas, Texas, on Oct. 4 to 6.

Burkowski said a successful season for Hou would include him finishing in the top four among his teammates in at least half the tournaments he plays in.

Aside from the numbers, Burkowski said, there are other aspects of the game Hou shouldn’t lose sight of.

“Realize that your game is good enough to be a pivotal part of the team’s success and realize Mark Hankins hadn’t followed you for a few years because he thought you were a great guy,” Burkowski said. “He thought you could be a really good player.”