Jan. 28, 2012
Tucson, Ariz. - Top-ranked Cal resumed its season Monday at the Arizona Intercollegiate and was in the third place two shots off the lead before any of the 15 teams in the field could complete their second round of action due to darkness at the par-71, 6,932-yard Vistoso Golf Club. Cal's Joël Stalter led by two strokes when play was suspended and is in pursuit of his first collegiate victory.
"It was not or best day or our finest hour today, but the guys played hard," Desimone said. "The conditions were as tough as we've seen in a few years playing 36 holes in mid-40's weather and winds. It was easy to make mistakes. We certainly have some work to do to get back to the top, but the good news is we are very much in it. If we follow our trend of being very good in final rounds, I suspect we'll be ready to play tomorrow and be right there at the end."
Cal is currently at two-under par and will begin Tuesday's final day of action two shots behind co-leaders TCU and Arizona State, both at four-under par.
The Golden Bears are making their spring debut after winning each of their five events in the fall and have won 11 of their last 19 tournaments dating back to the beginning of the 2011-12 campaign. The Bears are one victory away from equaling the school record of six tournament wins last season.
Stalter is at eight-under par with two holes remaining in his second round and two strokes ahead of Arizona State's Max Rottluff. Stalter started out hot with five consecutive birdies on the second through sixth holes and fired a six-under par 65 over his first 18 holes. He would add two more birdies on the 15th and 18th holes to sandwich his lone bogey of the first round on the 16th. The second time through, Stalter birdied three of his first five holes (2, 4, 6) to get to nine-under par for the tournament. He bogeyed the eighth, 10th and 13th holes to fall back to six-under before birdies on 14 and 15 got him back to his current eight-under. He finished with birdies on 12 of the 34 holes he played Monday.
"Joël played great to be in the lead," Desimone said.
Michael Kim is five strokes behind Stalter tied for sixth place at two-under par through his first 15 holes of the second round. Kim had an opening-round one-under par 70 with birdies on the fourth, 11th and 14th holes, while he bogeyed 12 and 16. He got to four-under for the tournament and three-under in the second round with birdies on four, five and 14, before giving one shot back with a bogey 15. On the day, he would post six birdies, three bogeys and 24 pars over the 33 holes he played.
"Michael just keeps doing what he does, which is to keep the ball in play and make some putts here and there," Desimone said.
Max Homa and Michael Weaver are tied for 36th at five-over par, while Brandon Hagy is tied for 64th at 10-over par. Shotaro Ban is tied for 54th at eight-over par playing as an individual.
The three birdies (5, 6, 17) in Homa's opening-round two-over par 73 were offset by five bogeys (2, 7, 10, 11, 18). He was also been up-and-down through the first 16 holes of his second round, including a quadruple-bogey eight on the ninth hole. He also had four birdies (2, 8, 11, 17) to give him seven over his first 34 holes, as well as three bogeys (6, 7, 18).
Weaver's opening-round two-over par 73 was marred by a stretch of three consecutive bogeys on the sixth through eighth holes. He would par 14 of his other 15 holes with the lone exception a birdie on the second. He has two birdies (5, 6), three bogeys (7, 9, 16) and one double bogey (8) over the first 13 holes of his second round.
Hagy shot an eight-over par 79 on his opening round that included three double bogeys (1, 11, 17). He also had four bogeys (4, 7, 14, 16) while managing a pair of birdies (14, 16). Through the first 16 holes of his second round, he has two birdies (6, 16), two bogeys (2, 9) and a double bogey (5).
Ban had a tough opening-round 10-over par 81 with three double bogeys (18, 2, 8) and five bogeys (1, 9, 10, 12, 15) to go along with a single birdie (16). However, he is two-under par over the first 17 holes of his second round and has got back to eight-over for the tournament, firing six birdies (1, 2, 5, 6, 9, 14) to go with four bogeys (18, 8, 12, 15).
Play will resume Tuesday with the conclusion of the second round beginning at 8 a.m. MT/7 a.m. PT. The third and final round will begin immediately after the second round is completed.
Arizona Intercollegiate (hosted by Arizona)
Tucson, Ariz. - Vistoso Golf Club (par-71, 6,932 yards)
TEAM LEADER BOARD (after 1 of 2 days/play suspended prior to end of Round 2)
T1. TCU (280-DNF - -4)
T1. Arizona State (290-DNF - -4)
3. Cal (281-DNF - -2)
4. New Mexico (285-DNF - E)
5. Arizona (282-DNF - +1)
6. Liberty (282-DNF - +5)
7. Cal State Fullerton (294-DNF - +9)
8. Kennesaw State (295-DNF - +11)
9. Pepperdine (297-DNF - +19)
10. UTEP (301-DNF - +25)
T11. New Mexico State (302-DNF - +29)
T11. Central Arkansas (298-DNF - +29)
13. Utah (306-DNF - +34)
14. Santa Clara (311-DNF - +37)
15. UC Riverside (308-DNF - +41)
PLAYER LEADER BOARD - INDIVIDUAL LEADER (after 1 of 2 days/play suspended prior to end of Round 2)
1. Joël Stalter (Cal) 65-DNF (-8)
PLAYER LEADER BOARD - CAL INDIVIDUALS (after 1 of 2 days/play suspended prior to end of Round 2)
1. Joël Stalter 65-DNF (-8)
6. Michael Kim 70-DNF (-3)
T36. Max Homa 73-DNF (+5)
T36. Michael Weaver 73-DNF (+5)
*T54. Shotaro Ban 81-DNF (+8)
T64. Brandon Hagy 79-DNF (+10)
*Playing as an individual; score does not count towards Cal team score
