USC Men's Golf: Trojans Ink SEC Sophomore Transfer

Mark Hankins gets his first transfer!

When Mark Hankins took over the USC Men's Golf program, it was expected that we'd see a couple golfers follow him from Mizzou, where he coached for the past couple of seasons.

Well, the first domino has fallen, and that is Antonio Safa.

Safa had a stellar freshman season at Mizzou, finishing with an average score of 70.81, and quickly became a key part in the Tigers top five, which earned him a spot to compete at both the SEC Championships and NCAA Championships.

The incoming sophomore joins a team that struggled last year, finishing 10th in the Pac 12 championship, and finishing a combined 27 over par in the process. 

During his regional tournament last year to qualify for the NCAA bid, Safa finished 12 over par and tied for 50th, which as a true freshman isn't too bad. 

As a whole, Mizzou finished 23 over par, and failed to qualify for the NCAA tournament, but it wasn't necessarily a lost season. Hankins helped build the Tigers golf program to what it is today, and he hopes to bring the culture he built there to LA. 

That starts with getting the best players, and by the way he speaks about Antonio Safa, he's starting to build a very special roster.

"We are excited to welcome Antonio to the team," Hankins said. "He saw immediate success in his freshman season and continues to show great progress through international and elite series amateur events. He is a very skilled and dynamic player that will contribute immediately this fall."

via

usctrojans.com

Safa joins fellow Mexican countryman Nicolas Dominguez on the Trojans roster, and they both came up playing in the Mexican circuit, so there's got to be a little bit of familiarity of each others' style of play.

There's still a lot of room to grow for Safa, but the fact that he gets to stay with the coach that recruited him to play college golf is really special