USC Men’s Golf Prepares for Cal Poly Invitational

Men’s Golf | October 29, 2023

Carmel, Calif — The USC men’s golf team begins its final tournament of the fall season this Monday (Oct. 30), at the Cal Poly Invitational in Carmel, CA. The two-day tournament is hosted at the Preserve Golf Club and consists of 54 holes of stroke play with the first two rounds taking place on Monday, and the final round on Tuesday (Oct. 31).
 
Last year, Ohio State took home the team title at 19-under par, 3 shots ahead of second place Northwestern at 16-under par. The Trojans are familiar with the course as USC competed at the Cal Poly Invitational last year, finishing ninth in the 13-team field.
 
Included in this year’s field are four teams from California and four teams currently ranked in the Top 25 in the country (No. 18 Oregon, No. 22 Ohio State, No. T23 Duke, and No. T23 Cal) based on the GCAA Coaches Poll.
 
Coach Hankins remarked on some of the keys for getting off to a fast start saying, “We’re going to have to play well to be in contention. We continue to grow more competitive and comfortable within our team. Each guy needs to take care of the things they can control, play the golf course in front of them, and remain positive and disciplined if we want to get some wins.”
 
A Tom Fazio designed course, the Preserve Golf Club was built in 2000 within the Santa Lucia Natural Preserve and is ranked as one of the top 100 courses in the US by Golf Digest. Formerly known as Rancho San Carlos, the course sits on the southern ridge of the Carmel Valley, offering deep bunkers and fast green complexes alongside a rolling landscape. The par-72 track plays to 7,042 yards and boasts A-4 bent grass greens with Santa Ana hybrid Bermuda 
fairways accented with rye rough.