Trojans to tee off in NCAA regionals

It was spring break in Las Vegas, but the USC men’s golf team wasn’t having any fun.

The Trojans had just finished in a tie for 12th in a field of 15 teams at the Southern Highlands Collegiate Masters, their seventh straight tournament placing outside of the top three.

“I was frustrated,” said USC coach Chris Zambri. “I was afraid I wasn’t doing the right things as a coach. It makes you wonder. I think everyone was frustrated.”

Over the last two months, however, the Trojans have been a completely different team. Four straight top-three finishes ended three weeks ago as USC won the school’s first Pac-10 championship since 2007, giving the team a newfound confidence heading into this week’s NCAA regional championships.

So what changed for the Trojans?

“I think the biggest turnaround has been in the play of [sophomore] Martin [Trainer] and [sophomore] Sam Smith,” Zambri said. “Those guys have made a huge difference for us.”

Trainer finished outside of the top 20 individually in the first three tournaments of spring. Since then, he’s posted three straight top-five finishes, including a victory at the Pac-10 championships earlier this month. Trainer shot 5-under-par for four rounds and won a seven-hole playoff with Oregon State’s Alex Moore to win the Pac-10 individual title.

“It felt like all of our hard work just started to pay off at once,” Trainer said. “I started playing really well and then guys like Sam and [freshman] Jeff [Kang] really started stepping up. We’ve come a long way.”

Smith has also turned in three top 10 finishes in the spring, including an eighth-place showing at the Pac-10 tournament.

The sophomores will lead USC, now ranked No. 20 in the nation, at the 13-team NCAA Regional Championships on Thursday through Saturday at the Farms Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.

“I’ve played there a couple times,” junior Steve Lim said. “Our ball striking needs to be solid because there are a lot of hazards out there.”

The five lowest scoring teams from the regional will advance to next month’s NCAA championships in Stillwater, Okla. The other top teams in this week’s field include No. 4 UCLA, No. 10 Texas, No. 28 San Diego (which will be playing on its home course) and No. 32 Ohio State.

The Trojans lineup will also feature Kang, who finished third at the ASU Thunderbird Invitational last month and fifth at the Pac-10 tournament.

Lim, the only upperclassman in USC’s regular lineup, has been a model of consistency throughout the season, not having finished outside of the top-30 in his last eight events.

Lim pointed to the Callaway Collegiate Match Play tournament as the turning point in the season for the Trojans, where only a week after the disappointing result in Las Vegas, they finished in third place.

“We’re really confident now,” Lim said. “We just want to play now and we’re ready to smash other teams.”

The biggest surprise is that the Trojans have been playing so well without a huge contribution from sophomore T.J. Vogel, who was a freshman All-American last season. Vogel posted two top-five finishes in the fall season but hasn’t cracked the top 30 in five events this spring.

“He hasn’t got going yet this season the way he did last year,” Zambri said. “But there’s time left in the season and he’s certainly talented enough to do it.”

Zambri is confident in the depth of his young squad going into the most important tournaments of the college season.

“We’re in a good position in that [Vogel] is now playing in the No. 5 spot for us,” Zambri said about his team’s depth. “We’re pretty good when T.J. Vogel — the player that he is — is playing five for us.”

The Trojans will tee it up in the first round Thursday beginning at 8 a.m.