TUCSON, AZ – Cal (292-280-280 – 852, E) opened its spring schedule with a third-place finish at the Arizona Intercollegiate that wrapped up action Saturday at the par-71, 7,262-yard Sewailo Golf Club. The third-place showing marked the sixth time in six events in 2015-16 that the Golden Bears have finished in the top three, while Collin Morikawa (71-70-68 – 209, -3) placed fourth for the top finish by a Cal player in 2015-16 and the best of the collegiate rookie's young career.

“We've been very consistent all year with the six top-three finishes,” head coach Steve Desimone said. “Collin just keeps doing what he's doing. He had a great fall, played great in qualifying leading up to this tournament and picked up right where he left off.”

Texas (284-282-277 – 843, -9) had the top final round by playing the final 18 holes in seven-under par to move past first-day leader Washington (277-281-290 – 848). Cal's four-under par final round tied for the second best but did not allow them to get past the second-place Huskies. Texas' Beau Hossler (65-70-67 – 202, -11) was the individual medalist.

“This was a solid effort especially in the last two rounds,” Desimone said. “We played two pretty solid rounds yesterday afternoon and today but just really got off to a tough start in the first round yesterday. We showed some spark today and it was nice to see some good rounds in even though we couldn't quite catch the teams in front of us. Obviously I'm disappointed not to win, but I feel better about things than I did last night.”

“You could definitely see improvement in the second and third round compared to the first,” Morikawa added. “Our first round needed to be better if we wanted to win this week. But with that being said I thought we learned a lot from this week especially with how tough some of the holes were playing. Hopefully we learn from that and fix our mistakes for the rest of the spring.”

Morikawa's final round of three-under par tied for the fourth-best of his day and was his ninth in the 60's out of 18 in 2015-16. He has also been the Bears' top finisher in three of the team's last four events. Morikawa's finish was his fourth in the top 10 and sixth in the top 20 in six college starts.

After wrapping up his second round that had been suspended due to darkness on Friday evening, Morikawa started his final round on the fifth hole and was four-under after his first eight holes after birdies on the par-five eighth and par-four ninth, 11th and 12th.He would play the remaining 10 holes of the round in one-over par with his fifth and sixth birdies on the par-four 16th and par-three third holes, and bogeys on the par-three 15th and par-four 18th and fourth.

“Today was a fairly solid day again as it was very similar to my second round,” Morikawa said. “I was able to get to four-under very quickly and then slowed down from then but throughout the whole day my game stayed pretty steady.”

Shotaro Ban (75-65-75 – 215, +2) was able to finish in a tie for ninth also for his best showing of the season despite a four-over par final round despite his four-over par final round that was dropped from the team score. Ban closed out his six-under par second round Saturday by playing the final four holes in even-par with a birdie on the second and bogey on the fourth, both par-fours. He was one-under through the first five holes of his second round with a birdie on the ninth hole but was five-over the rest of the way with four bogeys (11, 13, 14, 5) and one double bogey (3) with only one more birdie on 16.

Walker Huddy (72-71-74 – 217, +4) tied for 14th while KK Limbhasut (74-78-68 – 220, +7) finished 22nd and Jamie Cheatham (81-74-70 – 225, +12) tied for 44th.

Limbhasut had an impressive stretch of golf in his final round when he birdied five straight holes and six of seven (15, 16, 17, 18, 1, 3) after being two-over through his first seven holes. He did give one stroke back with a bogey on seven.

Cal will next be in action February 17-18 at the John A. Burns Intercollegiate hosted by Hawai'i.

ARIZONA INTERCOLLEGIATE (HOSTED BY ARIZONA)
TUCSON, AZ
SEWAILO GOLF CLUB (PAR 71, 7262 YARDS)
 
FINAL TEAM LEADERBOARD (after 2 of 2 days/3 of 3 rounds)
1. Texas (284-282-277 – 843, -9)
2. Washington (277-281-290 – 848, -4)
3. Cal (292-280-280 – 852, E)
4. New Mexico (290-286-280 – 852, +4)
5. Washington State (294-301-289 – 884, +32)
6. BYU (297-296-293 – 886, +34)
7. UTEP (296-294-298 – 888, +36)
8. Santa Clara (307-293-291 – 891, +39)
9. Iowa State (304-295-294 – 893, +41)
10. Utah (298-297-301 – 896, +44)
11. New Mexico State (297-303-297 – 897, +45)
12. Arizona (292-311-300 – 903, +51)
13. Denver (315-297-295 – 907, +55)
14. South Dakota State (312-302-297 – 911, +59)
T15. Cal State Fullerton (305-306-302 – 913, +61)
T15. Southern Illinois (309-296-308 – 913, +61)
17. Tulsa (318-319-303 – 940, +88)

FINAL PLAYER LEADERBOARD – INDIVIDUAL MEDALIST (after 2 of 2 days/3 of 3 rounds)
1. Beau Hossler – Texas (65-70-67 – 202, -11)

FINAL PLAYER LEADERBOARD – CAL INDIVIDUALS (after 2 of 2 days/3 of 3 rounds)
4. Collin Morikawa (71-70-68 – 209, -4)
T9. Shotaro Ban (75-65-75 – 215, +2)
T14. Walker Huddy (72-71-74 – 217, +4)
22. KK Limbhasut (74-78-68 – 220, +7)
T44. Jamie Cheatham (81-74-70 – 225, +12)