Cameron Henry, Shane Ffrench Pace USC's Second Round At Southwestern Invitational
Junior Cameron Henry registered an even round while freshman Shane Ffrench is par for the tournament, pacing the USC men's golf team after 36 holes of the Southwestern Invitational at North Ranch C.C. in Westlake Village, Calif., on Tuesday (Jan. 26).
The Trojans, in their season-opening event, are tied for sith after two rounds at a combined 21-over 597 (301-296). Arizona State leads the event at 2-under 574.
"I thought it was a mediocre outing today," Coach J.T. Higgins said. "Conditions were perfect for scoring and we didn't do a good job of taking advantage of it. The par 5s are all reachable and scoreable and we ended up being only 3-under on them today.
"It's always good to go up against great teams like we're seeing here and measure yourselves. Obviously we have some work to do. Some of these teams here are talented and impressive. But it's just January right now and we're building toward spring and hopefully by May we can compete with the best teams."
Henry topped USC's efforts today with a 72 with four birdies against four bogeys, posting par on both nines. He birdied 1 and 6 going out and 12 and 15 coming home. He was 2-under before two late bogeys evened his round and now stands tied for 26th at 5-over 149 (77-72).
"Cameron did a pretty nice job today," Higgins said. "He was better in all facets of the game. Unfortunately, he didn't quite finish it off but he still had a pretty solid day."
Ffrench, one of just five players under par on Monday, started the day tied for first and remains in the top 10, tied for ninth at par 144 (70-74). He opened with seven pars before finishing his front with two bogeys. He mixed two birdies with two more bogeys coming home for a 2-over round.
Senior Kaito Onishi is tied for 33rd at 7-over 151 (77-74), his day highlighted by an eagle on the par 5 15th hole. Senior Leon D'Souza is tied for 47th at 11-over 155 (77-78) and sophomore Tyler Guo shaved off eight strokes today and is tied for 61st at 16-over 160 (84-76).
USC will be playing early in the final round Wednesday, paired with California, host and top-ranked Pepperdine and Georgia Tech, beginning at 7:45 a.m.