Cal At Pac-12 Championships Monday-Wednesday

Monday, April 23

Rolling Hills Estates, CA

7:15 AM

California

Pac-12 Championships (Host: Pac-12/USC)

2018-04-23-25 Collin Morikawa Pac-12 Championship Tournament Notes

No. 5 Cal is the top-ranked team at the Pac-12 Championships and Collin Morikawa is the nation's top-ranked player

Photo by: Marcus Edwards/klcfotos

4/21/2018 10:55 AM | Men's Golf

Live Scoring Twitter Instagram Pac-12.com Pac-12 Conference YouTube Tournament Notes (PDF)

Golden Bears End Regular Season With Three Consecutive Second-Place Finishes

By: Cal Athletics

Off The Tee

• Cal had three team wins during the 2017-18 regular season at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational, Tavistock Collegiate Invitational and Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate, while also finishing second in each of its final three regular-season events at the Querencia Cabo Collegiate, The Goodwin and the Western Intercollegiate
• National Player of the Year candidate Collin Morikawa has been in the No. 1 spot in both the Golfstat and Golfweek/Sagarin national rankings since becoming the nation's top-ranked collegiate player for the first time in his career during the first week of April
• Collin Morikawa's 68.67 stroke average leads the nation and is below the NCAA's all-time record of 68.93 by Bill Haas of Wake Forest in 2003-04
• Cal is ranked as high as No. 5 nationally according to Golfweek/Sagarin (4/16/18), while the Golden Bears check in at No. 7 in the latest Bushnell Golfweek Coaches Poll (4/20/18) and are No. 8 according to Golfstat (4/18/18) with the Golden Bears the top-ranked Pac-12 team in all three polls
• Cal has claimed five individual medalist honors in 2017-18 with Collin Morikawa (Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate, Querencia Cabo Collegiate) and KK Limbhasut (Alister MacKenzie Invitational, Ka'anapali Classic Collegiate Invitational) winning twice while Sebastian Crampton shared the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate with three others including Morikawa
• Sebastian Crampton finished in the top six three times in his final four regular-season events including his sharing of the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate title and his third-place finish at The Goodwin that marked the first time this season Crampton paced Cal outright

Pac-12 Championships

Event Coverage

TV: Pac-12 Networks (Sun., May 6, 10 am PT, tape-delayed)
Live Scoring: calbea.rs/18p12board
Twitter: CalMensGolf, Pac12*, Pac12Network*
Instagram: CalMensGolf, Pac12Conference
Facebook: CalMensGolf, Pac12Conference*
Web: CalBears.com, pac-12.com/mensgolfchamps
YouTube: CalAthletics, Pac12*
Hashtags: #CalMensGolf, #Pac12Golf
*Live stream of Wednesday's awards ceremony

Cal Lineup

1. Collin Morikawa
2. Sebastian Crampton
3. Finigan Tilly
4. Kaiwen Liu
5. Ben Doyle
6. KK Limbhasut

Event Information

Cal begins its 2017-18 postseason action at the Pac-12 Championships co-hosted by the Pac-12 and USC Monday-Wednesday, April 23-25. The three-day, 72-hole tournament will be played at the par-71, 7,155-yard Rolling Hills Country Club in Rolling Hills Estates, Calif. Teams are scheduled to play 36 holes Monday on the event's opening day followed by 18 holes both Tuesday and Wednesday. The teams will start from the first and 10th holes all three days with Monday's scheduled start time of 7:15 am PT followed at 9 am Tuesday and 8 am Wednesday. Cal is slated to play Monday's 36 holes in six threesomes with Arizona and USC starting from the 10th hole. Tuesday and Wednesday's third and fourth-round pairings and starting holes will be determined by previous results. The top five individual scores each round from each team's six-player lineup will count towards the team score.

Weather Forecast*

Monday: Mostly Sunny, 69/56, 10% precip, SSW 9 mph, 65%
Tuesday: Partly Cloudy, 70/56, 0% precip, SW 10 mph, 63%
Wednesday: Partly Cloudy, 67/56, 0% precip, SW 11 mph, 65%
*According to weather.com

Nation's Top Three Golfers At Pac-12's

The nation's top three golfers lead the field at the Pac-12's Championships with top-ranked Collin Morikawa joined by No. 2 Justin Suh of USC and No. 3 Norman Xiong of Oregon.

Cal Top Ranked Team In Pac-12 Championships Field

Cal is the top-ranked team at the Pac-12 Championships in each of the three major national rankings (Golfstat, Golfweek/Sagarin, Bushnell/Golfweek/Coaches) and one of six teams ranked in the top 30 of at least one poll. The complete field and their latest rankings listed in order of their Golfstat ranking from top to bottom are below.

**(Golfstat, Golfweek/Sagarin, *Bushnell/Golfweek/Coaches)**

Cal (8, 5, 7), Stanford (17, 14), Arizona State (22, 18), USC (23, 22, 24), UCLA (28, 24), Oregon (30, 36), Arizona (32, 32), Colorado (46, 45), Washington (71, 74), Utah (77, 71), Oregon State (97, 83), Washington State (115, 106)
*Top 25 only
Latest rankings: Golfstat (4/18/18); Golfweek/Sagarin (4/16/18), Bushnell/Golfweek/Coaches (4/20/18)

Cal's History At Pac-12 Championships

• Cal won its lone two Pac-12 titles in back-to-back seasons in 2012 in Corvallis and in 2013 the last time it has been played in the state of California
• Cal has had three individual medalists at the Pac-12 Championships with Charlie Wi the first in 1995 followed by current assistant coach Eric Mina (2010) and Max Homa (2013)
• Five of the six players in Cal's 2018 Pac-12 Championships lineup have previously played in the event with Sebastian Crampton, KK Limbhasut and Collin Morikawa making two previous appearances, and Ben Doyle and Finigan Tilly one, while Kaiwen Liu will be playing in the Pac-12's for the first time
• KK Limbhasut has the top finish at the Pac-12 Championships by a player in the 2018 Cal lineup, tying for third in 2016 while both Limbhasut (2015) and Collin Morikawa (2017) have tied for sixth to give players in the Cal lineup three top-10 finishes
• Cal was eighth in its most recent Pac-12 Championships in 2017 with Collin Morikawa and Finigan Tilly the only two players in this year's lineup that were in the lineup a year ago, finishing tied for sixth and tied for 47th

Team Notes
Trio Of Cal Victories In 2017-18

Cal has won three events in 2017-18 at the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate in the spring of 2018 and in the fall of 2017 in back-to-back fashion at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational and against one of college golf's top fields at the prestigious Tavistock Collegiate Invitational. The three victories are Cal's first since winning the Alister MacKenzie Invitational in the fall of 2015 and the most in a season since the 2014-15 squad won four times. The back-to-back wins were the first for Cal since capturing the John A. Burns Intercollegiate and National Invitational Tournament back-to-back in the spring of 2015.

Three Second-Place Showings End Regular Season

After its most recent win at the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate, Cal finished second in each of its final three regular-season events at the Querencia Cabo Collegiate, The Goodwin and the Western Intercollegiate.

Limbhasut, Morikawa And Crampton Individual Winners

KK Limbhasut, Collin Morikawa and Sebastian Crampton have been individual medalists in 2017-18. Limbhasut won both the Alister MacKenzie and Ka'anapali Classic Collegiate Invitational during the 2017 fall slate, while Morikawa set 54-hole school and course records (197, -16) to win the Querencia Cabo Collegiate and along with Crampton was among four players to share individual medalist honors at the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate.

NCAA's On The Horizon

After playing at the Pac-12 Championships, the Golden Bears will learn their NCAA Championships fate when the selections of the 81 teams advancing to NCAA Regionals will be televised live May 2 on Golf Channel (2:30 pm PT). The 81 teams selected for the NCAA Championships will play at six NCAA Regionals across the country May 14-16. The top five teams and top individual not from those teams will advance to the 30-team field at the NCAA Championships held May 25-30 at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla.

Trio Making Return Felt

Jamie Cheatham, Sebastian Crampton and KK Limbhasut have returned to the active roster in 2017-18 after redshirting the 2016-17 season to work on their golf games and focus on their academic schedule. All three have made a significant impact with national rankings that are second thru fourth on the team behind Morikawa (Crampton – No. 55 Golfweek/Sagarin/No. 80 Golfstat; Limbhasut – No. 63/72; Cheatham – No. 90/172. Limbhasut and Crampton each played in all 10 of Cal's regular-season events during the 2017-18 season, while Cheatham participated in seven. Limbhasut has two wins and six top-20 finishes, while Crampton's season has been highlighted by his first career victory at the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate when he was among four players including teammate Collin Morikawa, while he has been in the top 10 in three of his last four events with a third-place showing at The Goodwin and a tied for sixth finish at the Western Intercollegiate. Crampton also tied for second at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational to give him a total of four top-10 finishes. Cheatham had the best finish of his career at the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate when he tied for fifth while he also tied for 12th at the Querencia Cabo Collegiate and had his first career hole-in-one in his most event at The Goodwin.

Pac-12 Championships Lineup Notes

1 – Collin Morikawa

5-9, 170, Jr., 2L
La Canada Flintridge (La Canada HS)

No. 1 Golfstat
No. 1 Golfweek/Sagarin
Pac-12's (T-6th, 2017; T15th, 2016)

National Player Of The Year Candidate

Morikawa is a candidate for National Player of the Year honors, a national semifinalist for The Ben Hogan Award given annually to the nation's top amateur player and No. 2 on the watch list for the Haskins Award honoring the top player in collegiate golf.

No. 1

Morikawa has been the nation's top-ranked golfer since earlier this month when he moved into the No. 1 spot in both the Golfstat (4/4/18) and Golfweek/Sagarin (4/5/18) rankings.

Nation's Stroke Average Leader

Morikawa has the best stroke average in the nation at 68.67, edging USC's Justin Suh (68.69) and Oregon's Norman Xiong (68.78). Morikawa is on track to break the all-time single-season stroke average record set in 2003-04 by Wake Forest's Bill Haas (68.93). His stroke average is also 1.27 strokes per round better than his own single-season school record of 69.94 he set in 2016-17.

2017-18 Victories And Playoffs

Morikawa has recorded the second and third victories of his collegiate career in 2017-18 at the Querencia Cabo Collegiate and Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate, while reaching a playoff before being defeated on the third extra hole by Oregon's Norman Xiong in the regular-season finale at the Western Intercollegiate. Morikawa set 54-hole school and course records by going 16-under par (66-67-64 – 197) to win by three strokes at the Querencia Cabo Collegiate and was among four players including teammate Sebastian Crampton to share individual medalist honors at the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate. Morikawa has six top-five and seven top-10 showings in 2017-18 and has been in the top 20 in each of the nine events he has played in with top-five finishes in each of the last four while winning or reaching a playoff in three of those four.

Current Hot Streak

Morikawa has been in the 60's in 12 of his last 13 rounds with a 67.07 stroke average during the stretch in which he has played 51-under par with three eagles, 60 birdies, 11 bogeys and two double bogeys.

Final-Round Excellence

Morikawa has a 67.56 stroke average in the final round of his nine events with both of the career-best-tying 64's he has shot in 2017-18 coming in the final round in two of his last three events at the Querencia Cabo Collegiate and Western Intercollegiate.

Pac-12 Men's Golfer of the Month

Morikawa earned Pac-12 Men's Golfer of the Month honors for the second time in his career in March of 2018 with a victory at the Querencia Cabo Collegiate and a tied for fifth-place finish at The Goodwin as Cal finished second in both events. In between, Morikawa made the cut before eventually finishing tied for 64th as the low amateur at the PGA TOUR's Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard.

Cal Career

Morikawa has compiled three wins while making two other playoff appearances among 13 top five, 22 top 10 and 31 top-20 finishes in his 34 career collegiate events while he has a 70.14 career stroke average. Morikawa earned his first career victory at the ASU Thunderbird Invitational in March of 2017 after making his first playoff in his previous event at the Southern Highlands Collegiate earlier in the month prior to his two wins and his other playoff appearance in 2017-18. He finished the 2016-17 campaign ranked as high as the nation's No. 4 collegiate golfer according to Golfstat and was a Division I PING First-Team All-American, as well as a semifinalist for both the Jack Nicklaus Player of the Year Award and The Ben Hogan Award among a host of honors. As a collegiate rookie in 2015-16, Morikawa became Cal's first player to earn a spot on the GCAA's Freshman All-American team and was also a third-team GCAA All-American and the Pac-12's Freshman of the Year among many honors.

2018 Palmer Cup

Morikawa along with Cal teammate KK Limbhasut have been selected to participate at the 2018 Palmer Cup.

2 – Sebastian Crampton

6-0, 165, RJr., 2L
Pacific Grove, CA (Stevenson HS)

No. 55 Golfweek/Sagarin
No. 80 Golfstat
Pac-12's (T-11th, 2016; T31st, 2015)

Strong Regular-Season Finish

Crampton was in the top 10 in three of his final four regular-season events in 2017-18. He started the stretch by picking up his first career victory when he was one of four players including teammate Collin Morikawa to share individual medalist honors at the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate. He also led Golden Bears when he was third at The Goodwin and tied for sixth at the Western Intercollegiate.

Career-Best 14-Under Par Twice

Crampton has twice shot a career-best-tying 14-under par 54-holes in 2017-18 in his share of the win at the Wyoming Intercollegiate Desert Intercollegiate and a tied for second-place finish at Alister MacKenzie Invitational when his 199 overall scored was the best 54-hole mark of his career.

3 – Finigan Tilly

5-10, 155, So., 1L
San Carlos, CA (Carlmont HS)

No. 633 Golfweek/Sagarin
Pac-12's (T-47th, 2017)

Best Career Outing

Tilly had both the best finish and best 54-hole score of his collegiate career at the second to last event of the regular season when he was tied for 15th at The Goodwin (70-72-69 – 211, -2). His two-under par round of 69 in the third and final round was the second-best of his career.

Return To Lineup

Tilly's appearance in the Cal lineup for the final two events of the regular season at The Goodwin and the Western Intercollegiate marked his first since the Golden Bears' season-opener last September at the Carpet Capital Collegiate. He also played as an individual three times – once last fall at the Alister MacKenzie invitational and twice this spring at the Arizona Medalist Intercollegiate and Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate.

4 – Kaiwen Liu

5-10, 170, Fr., HS
San Diego, CA (Torrey Pines HS)

No. 163 Golfstat
No. 186 Golfweek/Sagarin
Pac-12's (First)

Back In The Lineup

After being in the lineup for each of the team's five events in the fall of 2017, Liu was only in the lineup twice in the spring of 2018 at the Querencia Cabo Collegiate and the Western Intercollegiate. Liu completely missed the first two matches of the 2018 spring but did also play as an individual at The Goodwin.

Pair Of Recent 68's

Liu has posted 68's in two of his last five rounds among four rounds in the 60's in 2017-18 with one each at The Goodwin (third round) and the Western Intercollegiate (second round). He had a career-best 67 in the opening round of the Ka'anapali Classic last fall, while his other 68 came in his collegiate debut at the Carpet Capital Collegiate (second round).

5 – Ben Doyle

6-0, 150, RJr., 2L
La Jolla, CA (La Jolla HS)

No. 341 Golfweek/Sagarin
Pac-12's (T-56th, 2015)

Back In Action

Doyle is returning to the lineup for the first time since the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate although he did play at the Western Intercollegiate as an individual. After not playing in the team's first two events of the season, he had been in the lineup for five consecutive events dating back to the final three tournaments of the fall.

Career-Best Final-Round 66 At Western Intercollegiate

Doyle shot a career-best round of four-under 66 in the final round of the Western Intercollegiate while playing the event as an individual. He finished tied for 26th overall.

6 – KK Limbhasut

6-0, 200, Jr., 2L
Loma Linda, CA (Redlands HS)

No. 63 Golfweek/Sagarin
No. 72 Golfstat
Pac-12's (T-3rd, 2016; T6th, 2015)

Postseason Prowess

Limbhasut has finished in the top 20 in each of his five career postseason events including four top-10 showings. He has tied for third (2016) and tied for sixth (2015) at the Pac-12 Championships, tied for fourth at both of his appearances at an NCAA Regional (2015 Lubbock, 2016 Tucson) and tied for 17th in his lone NCAA Championships (2016).

Third And Fourth Career Wins

Limbhasut won the third and fourth events of his collegiate career during the fall of 2017 at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational and Ka'anapali Collegiate Classic Invitational. The victory at the MacKenzie helped Limbhasut earn Pac-12 Men's Golfer of the Month honors for October of 2017 for the first time in his collegiate career. He posted both the lowest 54-hole total of his career with a 15-under par 198 and top two rounds of his career in the victory with a seven-under par opening-round 64 followed by a six-under par 65.

Coaches Notes

Walter Chun, Second Season
Alex And Marie Shipman Director of Men's Golf

Walter Chun is in his second season as Cal's Alex and Marie Shipman Director of Men's Golf in 2017-18 and his 21st season with the Cal men's golf program having previously serving as associate head coach (2009-16), assistant coach (2004-09) and administrative assistant (2002-04) after his playing career for the Golden Bears (1997-2002).

Eric Mina, Second Season
Assistant Coach

Eric Mina is in his second season as Cal's assistant coach in 2017-18 and his sixth season overall associated with the program. Mina was also a player at Cal (2006-11) before spending four years as a professional golfer (2011-14).