WINDERMERE, FL – Cal (279, -9) has jumped out to a five-shot lead after the first round of the prestigious Tavistock Collegiate Invitational co-hosted by Texas Tech and UCF at the par-72, 7544-yard Isleworth Golf & Country Club. True freshman Collin Morikawa led the way for the Golden Bears on Sunday at the event which once again features one of the top fields in collegiate golf including top-ranked Illinois.
Cal is looking for its third victory this fall after winning two of its first four tournaments including the Alister MacKenzie hosted by the Bears last Monday-Tuesday.
“We had played well and made a lot of birdies last week and we were confident,” head coach Steve Desimone said. Sometimes that transfers to the next event. We did a lot of things right today. We hit a lot of good shots, and we converted when he had chances.”
All five players in the Cal lineup are in the top 20 after the first round with Morikawa followed by Shotaro Ban (69, -3) in a tie for fourth place, Walker Huddy (70, -2) in a tie for sixth, and Sebastian Crampton (73, +1) and KK Limbhasut (73, +1) in a tie for 20th.
“We've seen this all year including last week at our own tournament,” Desimone said. “Everybody was in the round all day.”
“We played great as a team today, but we need to be even more ready for the next two rounds to come,” Morikawa added.
All five players also birdied the 17th hole which Desimone called a “magnificent par five” before adding “I can't imagine any other team in the history of this tournament doing that in the same round.”
Morikawa made eight birdies in his round including each of his last four holes to move to the top of the leaderboard despite opening his round with a bogey on the par-four 10th and adding a double bogey on the par-three second. His four consecutive birdies to finish the round came on the par-four sixth, eighth and ninth holes as well as the par-five seventh. He started the birdie run by making a 40-footer from the fringe on six. He also had a run of three straight birdies as he made the turn on the par-five 17th, and par-four 18th and first holes with his other birdie on the par-four 12th.
“I was able to make many birdies today because I was putting well,” Morikawa said.
“Collin's four straight birdies at the end really gave us the edge that we have,” Desimone said. “As I've said before he looks to be a really special player and we saw a whole lot of it today.”
Ban had an up-and-down round with more up than down as he made seven birdies, two bogeys and one double bogey. Ban, who also started on the 10th hole, made two of his birdies on par-three holes (11, 2), three on par-fours (1, 8, 9) and two on par-fives (13, 17). His bogeys came on the par-four 16th and 18th, while his double was on the par-five third.
“It was a great overall team effort by the boys,” Ban said. “I'm happy where we are, but we are just trying to take it one shot at a time and extend our lead. To be honest my game is not great right now, but I'm managing and my putting has certainly come along nicely. I made a couple of dumb mistakes but hopefully moving forward I will eliminate those.”
Huddy birdied three of the course's four par-five holes (13, 17, 7) and added another birdie on the par-three second when he came within two inches of a hole-in-one. The only blemish on his round was a double bogey on the par-three fifth.
“I came into this event hitting the ball pretty well and continued to hit it well today especially off the tee,” Huddy said. “We did a great job prepping for this golf course and stuck to our game plan. We knew where to miss with our shots, which kept big numbers off our card.”
Crampton started with back-to-back bogeys on the par-four 10th and par-three 11th but pulled back to even par with consecutive birdies on the par-four 16th and par-five 17th. He stayed there until a bogey on the par-three fifth but got into the red by making back-to-back birdies on the par-four sixth and par-five seventh before a double bogey on his final hole on the par-four ninth.
Limbhasut was three-over par after eight holes following a double bogey on the 13th and a bogey on the 17th, both par-five holes. He made up one shot on his back nine with a pair of birdies on the par-four first and par-five third holes sandwiching a bogey on the par-three second before closing out his round with six straight pars.
The 54-hole event continues with second-round action Monday before the final 18 holes Tuesday. The first tee time both days is at 8 am ET/5 am PT. Cal will start Monday at 9:40 am ET/6:40 am PT and golf in threesomes with players from second-place South Carolina (284, -4) and third-place Arizona State (285, -3) on Monday with Tuesday's tee times yet to be determined.”
“We've got a lot of great teams chasing us on a challenging golf course,” Desimone said. “It's nice to be in the lead and five shots up, but we know there is all kinds of stuff going on behind us. We're just going to have to play another solid round tomorrow and worry about Tuesday when it gets here.”
TAVISTOCK COLLEGIATE INVITATIONAL (CO-HOSTED BY TEXAS TECH AND UCF)
WINDERMERE, FL
ISLEWORTH GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB (PAR 72, 7544 YARDS)
TEAM LEADERBOARD (after 1 of 3 days/1 of 3 rounds/18 of 54 holes)
1. Cal (279, -9)
2. South Carolina (284, -4)
3. Arizona State (285, -3)
4. Illinois (286, -2)
5. North Carolina (287, -1)
T6. North Florida (290, +2)
T6. Vanderbilt (290, +2)
8. Texas Tech (293, +5)
9. Ohio State (296, +8)
T10. UNLV (298, +10)
T10. Augusta (298, +10)
12. Florida (303, +15)
13. UCF (304, +16)
T14. New Mexico (307, +19)
T14. Washington State (307, +19)
PLAYER LEADERBOARD – INDIVIDUAL LEADER (after 1 of 3 days/1 of 3 rounds/18 of 54 holes)
1. Collin Morikawa – Cal (67, -5)
PLAYER LEADERBOARD – CAL INDIVIDUALS (after 1 of 3 days/1 of 3 rounds/18 of 54 holes)
1. Collin Morikawa (67, -5)
T4. Shotaro Ban (69, -3)
T6. Walker Huddy (70, -2)
T20. Sebastian Crampton (73, +1)
T20. KK Limbhasut (73, +1)
