Southwestern Invitational: Ohio State propels into the team lead by two shots

January 30, 2024 | by Justin Golba of AmateurGolf.com

Tucker Clark (Colorado Athletics Photo)

Tucker Clark of Colorado shot a second round 8-under 63 to take the individual lead into the final round

Ohio State shot a team score of 11-under 273 to jump from T7 to solo first place with 18 holes remaining at the Southwestern Invitational Collegiate at North Ranch Country Club in Westlake Village, Calif.,

Led by 2023 U.S. Amateur runner-up Neal Shipley, the Buckeyes jumped all the way into first place with first-round team leader Texas Tech, shooting a 1-under second round.

It is a close race behind the Buckeyes, with Texas Tech, Colorado, and UNLV all T2 at 8-under, UCLA is in solo fifth place at 7-under, and San Diego State is in solo sixth place at 6-under.

Tucker Clark of Colorado shot an 8-under 63 to jump into the lead at 10-under after a first-round 2-under 69. Clark recorded nine birdies and one bogey and wasted no time starting his climb up the leaderboard as he made birdies on Holes No. 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, and 8 after starting on the first tee. He birdied Holes No. 12, 15, and 16 to finish off his round.

Tyran Snyders of Texas Tech is two shots back at 8-under after rounds of 66-68 to sit in solo second place.

First-round leader Caden Fioroni struggled in the second round, as he shot a 2-over 73 and was the only player in the top 20 to shoot over par in the second round. Fioroni is T3 at 7-under with Santiago De La Fuente of Houston. Shipley, Luke Powell of UCLA, and Tyler Kowack of San Diego State are 6-under and T5.

Trevor Lewis of UNLV, Aaron Du of California, Maxwell Moldovan of Ohio State, and Carl Corpus of San Jose State are all T8 at 5-under. Moldovan shot a 6-under 65 second-round to help the Buckeyes get to the top spot on the leaderboard.

The Southwestern Intercollegiate was started by USC in 1978. The schools co-hosted the event in 2013 and 2014. After a year without a tournament, Pepperdine then took over hosting duties in 2016 and merged it with its own home tournament, which had been played at a few different sites.

Past winners include Sahith Theegala of Pepperdine (2017, 2020) and David Puig of Arizona State (2021, 2022), have both won twice. Other individual winners include Justin Suh of USC, Maverick McNealy of Stanford, Patrick Cantlay of UCLA, Anthony Kim of Oklahoma, and in 1996, Tiger Woods won the tournament while he was at Stanford.

Results: Southwestern Invitational

Place	Player	Location	Pts	Scores
1	Neal Shipley	Pittsburgh, PA	700	69-67-65=201
2	Taehoon Song	Buena Park, CA	500	70-68-64=202
T3	Tyran Snyders	, South Africa	400	66-68-69=203
T3	Caden Fioroni	La Jolla, CA	400	62-73-68=203
5	Santiago De La Fuente	, Mexico	400	67-68-69=204

View full results for Southwestern Invitational

About the Southwestern Invitational

Southwestern Invitational: Ohio State propels into the team lead by two shots

54-hole men's college tournament with team (best four scores of five players) and individual competitions. The Southwestern Invitational is the combination of two previously existing tournaments: the Southwestern Intercollegiate (started by USC in 19...