Defending champion USC extends Southern Highlands Collegiate Lead

LAS VEGAS, NV (March 7, 2017) -- With the greens playing firm and fast F\fourth-ranked USC wasn't as sharp as a unit on Tuesday at the Southern Highlands Collegiate but they were still able to extend their advantage heading into the final round. The Trojans, 7-under, were 3-over in the second round at Southern Highlands Golf Club but they extended their lead from three shots to six heading into the final round. No. 6 Oklahoma State and No. 8 Stanford will begin Wednesday play in a share of second at 1-under, Pepperdine is in fourth at 3-over while No. 7 Texas Tech and host No. 23 UNLV are fifth at 4-over. Defending champion USC was paced on Tuesday by sophomore Justin Suh who fired a 4-under 68 and with a 6-under tally is in second place overall. One day after shooting a 2-under 70, Suh came on late in his second round with an eagle on the par-5 13th and a birdie on the 18th. Overall the 2016 GCAA PING All-American honorable mention birdied six-times, eagled once and also overcame two bogeys and a double-bogey. Two others are in the top-10 for USC with junior Sean Crocker and freshman Cheng Jin part of a 2-under eighth place tie. Like the team lead, the individual lead remained the same with California's Collin Morikawa continuing to top the leaderboard. The sophomore is currently 7-under and one shot in front of Suh. Teeing of on the 10th and struggling for most of the day, Morikawa was 1-over with four holes remaining before he birdied the 6th and 7th holes to assure his spot in the lead. On Wednesday Morikawa, the 2015 Trans-Mississippi winner, will look for his first collegiate title. Behind Suh in second place comes Stanford's Maverick McNealy and Oklahoma State's Kristoffer Ventura in third at 4-under while Hannes Ronneblad of Texas Tech, Pepperdine's Sahith Theegala and Brandon Wu of Stanford at tied for fifth at 3-under. McNealy just three shots behind Morikawa is still in position to win his Stanford record 12th individual championship.