USC Men's Golf Returns To The Goodwin

The USC men's golf team, with a trio of medalist honors to its credit this season, returns to California this week for The Goodwin, Thursday through Saturday (March 30-April 1), at TPC Harding Park.

Tournament Information
The Stanford-hosted event features a whopping 28 teams, including eight from the Pac-12. Tee times for the morning waves each day are between 7-8:48 a.m. PT and afternoon waves each day are from 12-1:48 p.m. Results are available at Golfstat.

USC is off at 12:05 p.m. Thursday and at 7:00 a.m. on Friday.

USC's starting lineup will feature senior Jack Boulger, junior Krando Nishiba, sophomores Jackson Rivera and Gavin Aurilia and freshman Mahanth Chirravuri. The Trojans last played in the event in 2021, Nishiba the only Trojan in the lineup who saw action two years ago.

USC has won the event eight times since its inception in 1968, most recently in 2005. The Trojans have won four individual titles, most recently Rory Hie in 2008.

Former Trojan Justin Suh's 54-hole, 16-under 200 in 2019, which included a 64, is tied for the fourth-lowest score in tournament history

SEASON SUMMARY
The Trojans, in their third year under Head Coach J.T. Higgins and assistant coach Matt Walton, posted a pair of medalist performances in their first weekend and just notched their third last weekend.

Sophomore Jackson Rivera won the Husky Invitational by four strokes while senior Jack Boulger won the Husky Individual Invitational by six — both the first titles of their collegiate careers — while the USC men's team finished second at the Gold Mountain G.C. in Bremerton, Wash., to kick off the 2022-23 season. USC combined for a three-round 7-over 871 (293-281-297), finishing three strokes back of first-place Washington State and two ahead of third-place and host Washington.

Rivera never wavered during the final round and maintained at least a two-stroke lead throughout Tuesday and finished at 8-under 208 (67-70-71), closing with a birdie on 18. Boulger won going away on Gold Mountain's Cascade Course at 12-under 201 (68-67-66), posting his best three rounds in Cardinal and Gold.

On March 18, Rivera earned co-champion honors at the Arizona N.I.T. at Tucson Omni National at 13-under 203 (69-67-67), tying for first with Wildcat Zach Pollo. For Rivera, the 13-under showing tied for the 12th-lowest 54-hole total in almost three decades of Trojan golf. It also marked his first collegiate effort registering all three rounds in the 60s in one event. He earned Pac-12 Co-Golfer of the Week for his efforts.

Freshman Mahanth Chirravuri leads USC in stroke average (72.52) and rounds of par or better (12) and co-leads the team with five rounds in the 60s. He also has been USC's best tournament-finisher a team-best four times and has a team-best five top 25 finishes. His 23.5 counting rounds are tied for team high and his eight rounds under par are tied for second.

Rivera leads USC in rounds under par (nine) and is second in stroke average (72.67) and rounds of par or better (11). His five rounds in the 60s and his 23.5 counting rounds are tied for team best.

Boulger has nine rounds of par or better the year and eight under. Boulger is third on the team in stroke average (73.00).

MORE TEAM HIGHLIGHTS
Chirravuri led USC at the Inverness Intercollegiate with a tie for 20th at 6-over. Chirravuri and Rivera topped USC at the Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitational at 6-over, tied for 47th.

Chirravuri topped USC at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate with a tie for 20th at 2-under 214, the second time he'd been USC's top finisher while also co-leading once with Rivera. Sophomore Gavin Aurilia topped USC's efforts in the fall finale at the Cal Poly Invitational, tying for 23rd at 1-over 217 as USC tied for eighth overall.

Chirravuri led USC in its first two spring events, tying for 23rd at the Southwestern Invitational and tying for 19th at the John A. Burns Invitational. Krando Nishiba and Aurilia topped the Trojans' efforts in the Desert Mountain Collegiate, tying for 15th.

BRIEF OVERVIEW
The Trojans return six golfers from last year's squad, led by Rivera, who was All-West Region as well as All-Pac-12 second team during a freshman season that saw him start all 12 tournaments, leading the team in stroke average (71.70), rounds in the 60s (nine), rounds under par (20) and rounds of par or better (23).

He posted a team-best three top 10 finishes, six top 18s and seven top 21s and was USC's top finisher in eight of 11 events. Two of his top 10 results came in the postseason. He tied for sixth at the Pac-12 Championships at par 284 (73-68-74-69) and followed that with a tie for 10th at the NCAA Stockton Regional at 7-under 209 (68-71-70).

Also back are graduate senior Jack Boulger, senior Parker Sisk, juniors Krando Nishiba and Shane Ffrench and sophomore Gavin Aurilia.  The Trojans welcome a pair of freshmen in Mahanth Chirravuri from Arizona and Rocky Chapman from the U.K.

Aurilia started nine times last year, Ffrench eight times, Nishiba seven times, Boulger six times and Sisk twice.

Chirravuri was a 2020 Rolex/AJGA All-American honorable mention selection and won the Arizona state title in 2020 at 10-under while helping his school to state team titles in 2019, 2020 and 2021, finishing third individually in 2021. Chapman is a talented up-and-coming golfer from England who will compete for starting time.