USC heads into its final tournament of the fall with momentum on its side, and a familiar event ahead.
The Trojans will close out the season Oct. 16-18 at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate Invitational in Alpharetta, Ga., playing the par-72, 7,017-yard Golf Club of Georgia. USC opens Friday at 6 a.m.
PT, then returns for second-round play Saturday at the same time before beginning its final round Sunday at 5:30 a.m. PT.
Live scoring will be available through Scoreboard on the men’s golf schedule page at usctrojans.com.
The 14-team field brings several heavy hitters into the mix. Host Georgia Tech enters ranked No. 15 in the first Scoreboard team rankings of the season, while Clemson checks in at No.
- The rest of the field includes Boston College, Charlotte, Duke, Georgia Southern, LMU, Northwestern, Pepperdine, Stanford, UAB, UCLA and Virginia.
USC knows this tournament well. Last year, the Trojans finished third at the same event with an 857 (-6), behind only Virginia and Duke.
Antonio Safa led the way for USC with a shared 14th-place finish, while Jaden Dumdumaya was the top returner from that lineup after tying for 18th. Jack Buchanan and Nicolas Dominguez are also back from that team, giving USC a strong core of familiar faces for the week.
The Trojans will stick with the same five-player lineup that delivered their best result of the fall last week at the Trinity Forest Invitational, where USC finished second. That group is Buchanan, Dominguez, Dumdumaya, Deitrek Gill and Joshua Hong. Through three tournaments, USC has improved its finish every time out.
Gill has been one of the team’s most reliable performers this fall. The Pacific transfer finished second at Trinity Forest, carding a 204 and posting a first-round 64 (-8), his best round as a Trojan.
Dominguez has also been rolling, opening the season with the best start of his collegiate career and a team-leading three top-10 finishes. He and Gill are tied for the team lead with five rounds in the 60s.
Buchanan said the group is eager to clean things up in one final fall start.
"I think we were expecting ourselves to play a bit better. But we haven't strung it together just yet, and there's one more event left in the fall. We've historically played quite well at the Golf Club of Georgia, so I think we're all quite excited to get out there this week and put a good week together."
Dumdumaya framed the week as another chance to keep grinding.
"In the fall, we've definitely been stacking a lot of hard days lately. We're continuing to work hard, improve our work ethic and strive to achieve the goals that we've created for the fall. We're going to continue to keep on working hard, keep staying in it and just keep the passion for the game."
Gill pointed to the team environment around him as a major reason for his own success.
"A lot of my success is because of surrounding myself with my teammates. I get pushed every day out here.
They're great players. The coaches have been great at pushing us.
I think it's just a great culture here to help me get the best out of my game. I feel really good about my game right now, so I'm just hoping to put three good rounds together and be in contention down the stretch."
Hong said his focus is on the short game after solid ball-striking across USC’s first three events.
"For this last tournament, I've been hitting the ball pretty well the other three tournaments, so I'm just trying to focus more on the putting. I'll be concentrating more on my putts since coach made me practice more of those.
I'm excited. I think my preparation has been pretty good."
In Other News...
USC QB Publicly Stands Up For Lincoln Riley As Pressure Builds
As USC tries to steady itself after a rough stretch, Jayden Maiava has made it clear he is not buying into the noise around Lincoln Riley. The quarterback spoke up publicly on a podcast, backing his coach at a time when the criticism has only intensified and the Trojans are looking for some sense of footing. It was the kind of remark that tends to travel fast inside a program, especially when pressure is already hanging over the staff and the results have not matched the expectations.
Maiava said the outside criticism can serve as motivation for the group, a stance that fits the broader mood around a team trying to push through scrutiny rather than retreat from it. Riley, for his part, recently praised Maiavas poise and confidence in the Penn State game, a sign that the quarterbacks voice and presence carry real weight in the locker room. Whether that support is enough to quiet the bigger questions around the program is another matter, but it is clear the conversation around USC is not going away anytime soon. [Read more 🡒]
Lincoln Riley Sees One USC Issue That Still Needs Fixing
USC came away from its 31-23 win over Penn State with plenty to like, but Lincoln Riley is still treating the running game as a work in progress as the Trojans head toward their next road test at Wisconsin. There were useful stretches on the ground, yet Riley made it clear the offense has room to grow there, even with the confidence the players around that unit have shown in the backs and the offensive line.
The timing could work in USCs favor, with the bye week offering a chance to get healthier and sharpen the parts of the offense that have not yet settled in. For a team trying to build on a big win and carry it into conference play, the ground attack remains one of the cleaner areas to keep watching, especially once the Trojans get back to game speed in Madison. [Read more 🡒]
Lincoln Riley Outsmarted Penn State When USC Needed It Most
With USC clinging to its lead late against Penn State, Lincoln Riley turned to a formation that did more than just keep the offense on the field. The unusual look created enough confusion to force Matt Campbell to burn a timeout on fourth down, a small detail in the moment that carried real weight in a game where every possession felt strained and every decision mattered.
The sequence only got better for USC a short time later when Christian Pierce forced a fumble and the Trojans recovered it, setting up the closing stretch they needed to drain the clock in a 31-23 win. Riley's call was the kind of late-game chess move that can tilt a tight matchup, and on this night it helped USC finish the job when Penn State needed one clean stop and could not get it. [Read more 🡒]