SANTA CRUZ, Calif. – San Jose native Shotaro Ban (68-69-67 – 204, -6) registered the second-best finish of his collegiate career by taking second place at the 69th annual Western Intercollegiate hosted by San Jose State that concluded Sunday at Pasatiempo Golf Club.
The finish was also the best ever at the event by a Cal player with current professional golfers Max Homa and Michael Kim the previous best when they tied for second in the 2013 event to lead the Golden Bears to a team title. Jay Berkowitz (1997) and Charlie Wi (1995) have also previously tied for second.
“My ball striking really put me in good position,” Ban said. “I kept it in play the whole tournament. I hit a lot of fairways and a lot of greens. It makes it a lot easier doing that. It's also always fun playing a local course that I played prior to college. It's nice to come back here.”
Ban's third consecutive under par round of the event Sunday that started on the 10th hole included four birdies with one on each of the course's par fives (13, 6, 9) and another on the par-four 17th that followed his lone bogey on the par-four 16th.
Ban also played the final hole of his suspended one-under par second-round 69 on Sunday, making his first of two birdies on the day on the ninth hole.
Ban finished his three rounds with 11 birdies and five bogeys, with only three bogeys over his final 52 holes following back-to-back bogeys to start his opening round Saturday.
After playing in only one tournament last fall, Ban has now finished tied for third or higher three times in his six starts this spring. He earlier won his first collegiate tournament at the John A. Burns Intercollegiate after tying for third at the Arizona Intercollegiate.
“It's more of an inner-confidence,” Ban said. “I'm starting to believe in my game and know that I can start getting close to the top.”
“Shotaro's performance here was a tremendous performance given the great field individual players,” head coach Steve Desimone added. “It's very impressive and a wonderful reward for how hard Shotaro has worked. He's really doing everything right, not just learning skills but learning how to play the game. You can see all that coming together and what you see is the development of a great player.”
Ban finished three strokes behind individual medalist Scottie Scheffler (66-68-67 – 201, -9) of a winning Texas (346-366-340 – 1052, +2) team that was 14 strokes better than second-place Oregon (361-353-352 – 1066, +16) and equaled the tournament's final-round record with a 10-under par team score Sunday.
Cal (360-379-368 – 1107, +57) finished 10th in the 14-team field to mark the Bears' worst showing in a regular-season event since opening the 2010-11 campaign with a 12th-place finish at the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational.
“There's nothing like playing Pasatiempo, especially with a young team that hasn't really experienced all the challenges this great golf course can bring,” Desimone said. “We certainly struggled here.”
The Bears were playing with a lineup that included three freshmen and a sophomore.
Alexander Wilson (72-72-73 – 217, +7) was the next Cal player on the leaderboard in a tie for 26th. Sebastian Crampton (72-80-75 – 227, +17), KK Limbhasut (73-81-74 – 228, +18) and Keelan Kilpatrick (75-78-79 – 232, +22) tied for 65th, 67th, and 77th, while Cameron Shaw (77-80-80 – 237, +27) was 82nd.
Ben Doyle (72-73-73 – 218, +8) picked up a top 30 finish by tying for 30th while playing as an individual, while Clayton Madey (80-73-75 – 228, +18) tied for 67th also playing as an individual in his first collegiate tournament.
“It was definitely a lot of fun and something I had looked forward to for a long time,” Madey said of his college debut. “I'm glad I got to finally realize it. It was a blast. I had a couple of stretches this weekend that gave me quite a bit of confidence. Looking forward to the rest of the season stretches like that really get you feeling good about your game and your scoring ability.”
Cal returns to action April 27-29 when the Bears begin the postseason at the Pac-12 Championship hosted by Washington State at the Palouse Ridge Golf Club.
“We're going to take a little break the next three days,” Desimone said. “I think we all could use it.”
WESTERN INTERCOLLEGIATE (HOSTED BY SAN JOSE STATE)
SANTA CRUZ, CA
PASATIEMPO GOLF CLUB (PAR 70, 6615 YARDS)
FINAL TEAM LEADERBOARD (after 2 of 2 days/3 of 3 rounds/54 of 54 holes)
1. Texas (346-366-340 – 1052, +2)
2. Oregon (361-353-352 – 1066, +16)
3. Stanford (354-353-360 – 1067, +17)
4. Arizona State (354-372-349 – 1075, +25)
5. Washington (355-369-361 – 1085, +35)
6. UCLA (358-368-362 – 1088, +38)
7. USC (357-370-366 – 1093, +43)
8. Arizona (365-368-364 – 1097, +47)
9. San Diego State (370-366-365 – 1101, +51)
10. Cal (360-379-368 – 1107, +57)
11. UC Irvine (378-378-361 – 1117, +67)
12. San Jose State (375-373 -376 – 1124, +74)
13. UTEP (377-382-371 – 1130, +80)
14. Hawai'i (415-409-395 – 1219, +169)
FINAL PLAYER LEADERBOARD – INDIVIDUAL MEDALIST (after 2 of 2 days/3 of 3 rounds/54 of 54 holes)
1. Scottie Scheffler – Texas (66-68-67 – 201, -9)
PLAYER LEADERBOARD – CAL INDIVIDUALS (after 2 of 2 days/3 of 3 rounds/54 of 54 holes)
2. Shotaro Ban (68-69-67 – 204, -6)
T26. Alexander Wilson (72-72-73 – 217, +7)
^T30. Ben Doyle (72-73-73 – 218, +8)
T65. Sebastian Crampton (72-80-75 – 227, +17)
T67. KK Limbhasut (73-81-74 – 228, +18)
^T67. Clayton Madey (80-73-75 – 228, +18)
77. Keelan Kilpatrick (75-78-79 – 232, +22)
82. Cameron Shaw (77-80-80 – 237, +27)
^Played as individual
