Six Amateurs To Battle at Genesis Open Collegiate Showcase

PACIFIC PALISADES, CA (February 11, 2018) - Six college golfers will help usher in Genesis Open tournament week, as the Collegiate Showcase tees off at Riviera County Club on Monday morning.

The Collegiate Showcase features a stroke play competition for the six players, with the winner earning an exemption into the Genesis Open which starts on Thursday. The six combatants for this year's competition are Doug Ghim (University of Texas), Scottie Scheffler (Texas), Justin Suh (University of Southern California), Carl Yuan (University of Washington), Lukas Euler (University of Kentucky) and Spencer Soosman (Texas).

In addition to the individual contest, there will be a team competition, with a current PGA Tour pro pairing with a player from his alma mater to play in a best-ball format. The tour pros that are scheduled to compete include Jordan Spieth (who helped Texas win the NCAA Championship in 2012, at Riviera no less), J.B. Holmes (Kentucky), Jhonattan Vegas (Texas), Jamie Lovemark (Southern Cal), Cody Gribble (Texas), and C.T. Pan (Washington).

For Ghim, it is a chance to get some payback on Riviera, as the last time he competed there he narrowly lost the U.S. Amateur final to Doc Redman. Ghim was two up with two to go, only to see Redman go eagle-birdie-birdie to steal the trophy from him on the 37th hole. The 2017 Pacific Amateur champion and Walker Cupper enters the week #2 in the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com World Ranking.

Suh has had the best record of any college player so far this season, winning the Trinity Forest Invitational in Dallas, the Saint Mary's Invitational in Northern California, and the Amer Ari Invitational just last week in Hawaii. He is currently #8 in the World Ranking.

Scheffler, who was also a member of the victorious U.S. Walker Cup team last September, finished third in the NCAA Championship last year before earning low amateur honors at the U.S. Open at Erin Hills, finishing tied for 27th. He comes in as the 20th ranked player in the world.

Yuan, a native of China, finished 3rd in last year's Asia-Pacific Championship and had four top-five finishes for the Huskies in 2017, including a runner-up finish in the Arizona Intercollegiate, a 4th place finish in the PAC-12 Championship, and a 5th place finish in the Nike Collegiate. Yuan's world ranking is 49.

Soosman, who is from nearby Westlake Village, CA, made the semifinals of last year's California Amateur and the quarterfinals of the North & South Amateur at Pinehurst. He is playing some good golf coming in, having finished 6th in the Amer Ari Invitational in Hawaii last week. He is currently ranked #110.

Euler is from Germany and represented his country in the European Team Championships. He came close to winning last year's German International Amateur, falling in a playoff to finish second. he finished 6th in the 2016 NCAA Southeast Regional and enters the week #318 in the world ranking.

This is the fourth year of the Collegiate Showcase. Previous winners are Will Zalatoris (Wake Forest) in 2015, Charlie Danielson (Illinois) in 2016, and Sahith Theegala (Pepperdine) in 2017.

After Theegala's win last year, he went on to make the cut in the Genesis Open, shooting 2-under to finish T49, while getting to tee it up alongside Phil Mickelson and J.B. Holmes.

Tee Times, Genesis Open Collegiate Showcase (all times PDT)
8:30am Jordan Spieth and Scottie Scheffler
8:40am Jhonattan Vegas and Spencer Soosman
8:50am J.B. Holmes and Lukas Euler
9:00am Cody Gribble and Doug Ghim
9:10am C.T. Pan and Carl Yuan
9:20am Jamie Lovemark and Justin Suh