LUBBOCK, Texas – Cal true freshman KK Limbhasut is one of five players tied for second one shot off the lead after Thursday's opening round at the 2015 NCAA Lubbock Regional. Limbhasut fired a five-under par 66 at The Rawls Course to lead a Cal (279, -5) squad that is tied for fifth after 18 holes at the par-71, 7349-yard venue. Cal is playing in its school-record ninth straight NCAA Regional and on a quest to extend its school-record string of appearances in the final field of 30 at the NCAA Championships to six years in a row.
Texas (273, -11) is in the team lead by one stroke over Houston (274, -10), while Duke (276, -8) and host Texas Tech (278, -6) are third and fourth. Cal is tied with Purdue (279, -5) with two other teams – Auburn (280, -4) and Louisville (283, -1) – also under par. Purdue's Austin Eoff (65, -6) is on the top of the player leaderboard at the end of the first round.
The top five teams and the top individual not from one of those teams from each of the six NCAA Regionals taking place around the country Thursday-Saturday will advance to the final field of 30 at the NCAA Championships being played May 29 – June 3 at The Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla.
“You want to make sure you put yourself in a good position after the first round at an NCAA Regional and we've done that,” head coach Steve Desimone said. “We've positioned ourselves well and I like our chances. At an NCAA Regional you either qualify or you go home.”
“The way this golf course is designed it will be very difficult for teams to separate themselves,” Desimone added. “I can tell you it's going to go down to the last one, two or three holes on Saturday afternoon. There will probably be two or three teams that separate themselves by a few shots but it wouldn't surprise me if we have a playoff for the final spots.”
Limbhasut had seven birdies during his round including a stretch on his second nine in which he birdied five of his first seven holes (1, 3, 4, 5, 7) and three in a row that he capped by making a 45-foot putt on the 460-yard par-four fifth. He moved into a tie for first place after the birdie on the par-four seventh but gave one stroke back with a bogey on the par-four eighth. He also had a pair of birdies on his first nine on the 13th and 17th holes, while he bogeyed the 15th.
“Going into my final nine holes on the front nine I knew that I could start making birdies because those are the easier holes on the golf course,” Limbhasut said. “I positioned myself well today, giving myself good angles to attack many pins and I was able to convert many putts for birdies.”
“When good players are playing well they get on that type of a roll,” Desimone said. “Every component of his game is solid so he can get it going at any time. He's had a wonderful spring and is obviously playing really well right now. He's just really becoming a complete player. It's fun to watch.”
Limbhasut was coming off a strong performance in his most recent competition when he tied for sixth at the Pac-12 Championships last month to equal the best finish ever by a Cal freshman at the event. Limbhasut has been in the top five four times, the top 10 on five occasions and the top 15 in seven of his 12 tournaments to lead Cal in each category, with the five top-10 showings equaled by Sebastian Crampton. He is the only Cal player to have participated in each of the team's 13 events and 38 rounds this season.
Alexander Wilson also came up big for the Golden Bears on Thursday with a career-best three-under par 68 and is tied for 11th. Wilson had at least a share of the lead for much of the early to middle parts of his round, getting to four-under par after 10 holes following a string of four birdies over five holes that spanned both sides of his turn (15, 17, 18, 1). He gave one stroke back with a pair of bogeys (3, 7) and one birdie (5) over his final eight holes.
“I was hitting the ball great today and really got going when I almost holed out from 210 yards and tapped in for birdie,” said Wilson about his sixth hole of the day on the par-four 15th. “I felt my round starting to slip but made a 25-footer to save par on the fourth hole, which was my 13th hole of the day. That was big for momentum. It's like coach Des says the first round is about staying in it, and I feel like we've done that and put ourselves in a nice spot going into the last two rounds.”
“Alexander really played well and made very few mistakes,” Desimone said. “It was great to see.”
Crampton (72, +1) is tied for 42nd after a steady one-over par round that included two birdies (17, 1) and three bogeys (13, 4, 9).
Shotaro Ban (73, +2) is one stroke behind Crampton and tied for 56th after a two-over par round with three birdies (12, 1, 5) and four bogeys (10, 13, 14, 18, 8).
Cameron Shaw (77, +6) was even-par through 11 holes before playing his final seven holes in six-over and is tied for 71st. His wild final stretch included a quadruple bogey (3), double bogey (8) and two bogeys (4, 7) as well as two birdies (6, 9). He had two birdies (13, 17) and two bogeys (11, 14) over his first 11 holes.
“We were kind of all over the map today,” Desimone said. “KK and Alexander obviously played well. Sebastian and Shotaro both did a lot of things right, but just couldn't really put a great round together, and Cameron probably hit it as well as anybody but just had two really bad holes.”
The final 36 holes of the NCAA Lubbock Regional are scheduled for Friday and Saturday with 18 holes each day. Friday's action starts at 8 a.m. CDT/6 a.m. PDT. Cal will play in threesomes along with Texas Tech and Purdue on Friday beginning at 8:20 a.m. CDT/6:20 a.m. PDT. Saturday's round will begin a half-hour earlier at 7:30 a.m. CDT/5:30 a.m. PDT. Specific pairings and start times for Saturday's action will be based on cumulative results from the first two rounds.
NCAA LUBBOCK REGIONAL (HOSTED BY TEXAS TECH)
LUBBOCK, TX
THE RAWLS COURSE (PAR 71, 7349 YARDS)
TEAM LEADERBOARD (after 1 of 3 days/1 of 3 rounds/18 of 54 holes)
1. Texas (273, -11)
2. Houston (274, -10)
3. Duke (276, -8)
4. Texas Tech (278, -6)
T5. Purdue (279, -5)
T5. Cal (279, -5)
7. Auburn (280, -4)
8. Louisville (283, -1)
9. Southeastern Louisiana (285, +1)
10. Charleston Southern (286, +2)
T11. UC Irvine (287, +3)
T11. Georgia State (287, +3)
13. North Florida (291, +7)
PLAYER LEADERBOARD – INDIVIDUAL LEADER (after 1 of 3 days/1 of 3 rounds/18 of 54 holes)
1. Austin Eoff – Purdue (65, -6)
PLAYER LEADERBOARD – CAL INDIVIDUALS (after 1 of 3 days/1 of 3 rounds/18 of 54 holes)
T2. KK Limbhasut (66, -5)
T11. Alexander Wilson (68, -3)
T42. Sebastian Crampton (72, +1)
T56. Shotaro Ban (73, +2)
T71. Cameron Shaw (77, +6)
