Feb. 6, 2007

The USC men's golf team, currently ranked No. 7 by Golfword.com and featuring Golfweek.com's No. 1 rated golfer in freshman Jamie Lovemark, opens its 2007 spring schedule at the 17th annual UH-Hilo Invitational from Wednesday through Friday (Feb. 7-9) at the Waikoloa Village G.C.

The Trojans, who finished in the top two in three of their four starts in the fall season, will be competing in an 18-team field that includes No. 2 Stanford, No. 3 Oklahoma State, No. 20 Georgia Tech and No. 25 Arizona State. In addition to Stanford and Arizona State, Troy will square off against Pac-10 foes Oregon, Oregon State and Washington.

Play begins each day with shot gun starts at 9:30 a.m. (PST)

Team Notes
Freshman Jamie Lovemark, on the watch list for the 2007 Ben Hogan Award, which goes to the nation's top men's golfer, posted five sub-70 rounds in the fall and leads the team with a stroke average of 70.50. He led wire-to-wire to win the Big Ten/Pac-10 Challenge, posting an eight-shot win with a three-day, 4-under 209. The title was USC's first since Ben Hayes won to kick off the 2004-2005 season and was Troy's first by a freshman since Hunter Mahan won back-to-back events in the fall of 2000.

Lovemark also finished third in his collegiate debut at the Inverness Intercollegiate with a 219, helping USC to a team title, and also took third at the CordeValle Collegiate with a 204 (-12).

Recently, Lovemark earned an invite to play as an amateur in the 2007 Buick Invitational (Jan. 25-28) and parlayed it into a tie for 39th. He finished with a 72-hole 285 (66-74-73-72, -3).

Sophomore Tom Glissmeyer is second on the team in stroke average at 74.17. He posted a season-best fifth at the Inverness Intercollegiate and tied for 12th at the CordeValle Collegiate after back-to-back 69s to close out the tournament.

Senior Joshua Wooding struggled a bit more than expected in the fall campaign's first two tournaments, but improved in the final two and wrapped up his 2006 action with a 65 at the CordeValle Intercollegiate. The effort included eight birdies and an eagle to tie his personal best. His tie for 11th at the Big Ten/Pac-10 Challenge was a season best.

Wooding's 74.92 stroke average is tied with freshman Rory Hie. Hie finished a season-best tie for 12th at the CordeValle Collegiate with a season-low 211. He has fired season lows of 71 twice.

Senior Jordan Nasser finished in the top 30 in three of four starts and has a stroke average of 75.0. He tied for 29th in the opener, tied for 27th at PGA West and tied for 28th at the Big Ten/Pac-10 Challenge. He has carded 72 or lower four times.