Men’s Golf | September 10, 2023
SAMAMMISH, Wash.–The Trojans closed out their final round on Sunday (Sept. 10) at the Sahalee Players Championship at Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish, Wash. The team finished at a combined 41-over on the day, 61-over for the tournament, to finish in 12th place for the overall championship. Illinois took home the crown with a score of 1-under, 8 strokes in front of second place Arizona State and 11 strokes in front of tournament host Washington who took third.
“We started the week with 4 of 5 first time starters for us in the line-up with Rocky and Nicolas both making their collegiate debut,” said head coach Mark Hankins. “It was an elite field and championship conditions. We had a solid first day, but our inexperience showed today with bad decision making and uncommitted swings creating big numbers. We’ll take this as a hard learning opportunity and move forward. It’s a long season and these guys will get more comfortable quickly.”
Antonio Safa and Rocky Campbell, who led the Trojans yesterday, each posting 2-over across 36 holes, battled for scores of 7-over 79 and 12-over 84, respectively. Safa finished tied for 34th, while Campbell came in at tied 50th. Coach Mark Hankins commented, “I was impressed with both Antonio and Rocky. Antonio was near the top of the leaderboard all day and Rocky played super steady for his first collegiate event.”
Hoping to turn around his round today, Krando Nishiba birdied the 9th. However, he couldn’t quite gain the momentum that he needed and posted a 8-over 80 which put him into a tie for 50th, alongside teammate Rocky Chapman and others.
Sam Lape recorded an 86 as he tied for 70th with teammate Nicholas Dominguez who carded an 87.
After a strong start on Saturday morning, Gavin Aurilia couldn’t quite keep his stride and finished his solo campaign tied for 68th after posting a 12-over 84 today.
USC’s next outing will be the Tucker Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M., hosted by New Mexico on Sept. 25-26, where the Trojans hope to build on their 2023-24 campaign. The Tucker Invitational is a 20-team tournament contested on the UNM Championship Golf Course.
..
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at USC Athletics…