USC sophomore Justin Suh
(Golfweek Photo)
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.
ABOUT THE
Southern Highlands Collegiate
54 hole men's college tournament hosted by UNLV.
Team (best four scores of five players each day) and
individual competitions.
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