Trojans battle back at GC of Georgia; USC's Suh wins, too

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (Oct. 21, 2018) – After falling eight shots off the pace in the opening round of the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate, USC’s path to victory was built on a two-day rally. The Trojans climbed to within two shots of the leader after 36 holes, and after Sunday’s final round, were on top by a single shot.

Interestingly, even though USC climbed the leaderboard in each round, its scores also climbed. A 4-under 284 in the final round at the Golf Club of Georgia was USC’s highest of the week. Overall, USC was 22 under for the tournament. This is the team’s first victory this fall after finishing runner-up at the Fighting Illini Invitational to start the season.

USC got a big push from lead horse Justin Suh, who also won the individual title by four shots. Suh, No. 3 in the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com Ranking, earned medalist honor for the seventh time in his career. The senior had six birdies against two bogeys in the final round at Golf Club of Georgia for a 68. He opened with back-to-back rounds of 67 and was 14 under for the tournament. Suh now has six rounds under 70 in nine outings this year.

Two other Trojans also finished inside the top 15. Junior Kyle Suppa finished a season-best T-7 at 5-under 211 (70-67-74), just off his career best tie for sixth last season.

Kaito Onishi came on strong Sunday to tie for 15th at 3-under 213 (70-74-69). He was 1 under going out and 2 under coming in. Onishi also contributed a key birdie on 18.

Second-round leader Clemson was second at 21 under and first-round leader Georgia Tech, also the tournament host, was third at 19 under.

Wake Forest (16 under) and Alabama (15 under) rounded out the top 5.

Information from USC Athletics used in this report