Pac-12 teams occupy the top four and six of the first seven spots on the team leaderboard heading into Friday's second round. Washington (278, -2) and host Stanford (279, -1) were the only two squads with under-par team scores Thursday and are followed by Cal and USC (286, +6) in a tie for third. Oregon and Colorado are also two of the three teams along with Santa Clara a single shot behind the Golden Bears and Trojans after seven-over par rounds of 287.
Three players from three different schools – Daniel O'Loughlin (Colorado), Derek Ackerman (Santa Clara) and David Snyder (Stanford) – are tied for the individual lead two shots ahead of Morikawa after three-under par rounds of 67 on Thursday.
KK Limbhasut and James Song are in a group of 12 players tied for 25th two shots behind Morikawa and four out of the lead after rounds of one-over par 71. Kaiwen Liu was the other scorer Thursday for Cal and is in a tie for 76th after a five-over par 75, while Ben Doyle is tied for 98th after a seven-over par 77 that was tossed from the team score with the top four individual scores in each round counting towards the team total.
Cal is slated to start second-round action from the 10th tee Friday with Doyle the first Cal player scheduled at 7:30 am PT. Song, Liu, Limbhasut and Morikawa will follow in 11-minute intervals. Cal will play in five threesomes along with Pepperdine and SMU for the second consecutive round.
More …
- Morikawa was one over par through 15 holes but kept his under-par and par or better streaks going with back-to-back birdies on the par-five 16th and par-three 17th holes with the latter coming on a 30-foot putt before making par on the par-four 18th.
- Morikawa also converted birdies on the par-five first and par-four 11th holes, while he had back-to-back bogeys on the par-three fourth and par-four fifth before another on the par-four 13th.
- Cal's four scoring players combined to play the course's three par-fives (1, 7, 16) in seven-under par as Song led the way by making birdies on all three, while Morikawa (1, 16) had two and both Limbhasut and Liu one each on 16.
- Limbhasut played his final 10 holes in two-under par with his birdie on 16 and the par-fourth ninth after playing the first eight holes in three-over with bogeys on the par-four second and sixth as well as the par-three eighth.
- Song had a front-nine two-under 33 with birdies on both par fives (1, 7) and another on the par-fourth sixth, and just one bogey on the par-three third before playing the back in three-over 38 with a single birdie on the par-five 16th and four bogeys on the par-four 11th, 12th and 18th, and the par-three 17th.
- Cal was playing Thursday for the first time in 23 days since the Golden Bears participated March 3-5 at the Southern Highlands Collegiate.
- Cal is playing without Sebastian Crampton in its lineup for the first time since his 2014-15 true freshman campaign (excluding his 2016-17 redshirt season) while he plays at a Mackenzie Tour qualifying school event. Crampton, who had suited up for each of Cal's last 42 events (excluding his 2016-17 redshirt season), is tied for fifth and three strokes off the lead heading into Friday's fourth and final round in the q-school event.
Alex and Marie Shipman Director of Men's Golf Walter Chun
- "The course played tough and the wind made things harder. I'm proud of how the guys kept grinding and stayed patient. It paid off as we made some birdies at the end. It's a new day tomorrow so we just need to stick to our game play and play tough."
Collin Morikawa
- "I knew from the beginning of the round it was going to be a tough day with the wind and wet fairways. I hit my driver pretty well today but got unlucky with some mud balls. My irons weren't as sharp and I wasn't giving myself many birdie looks, but to have a birdie on 16 from 10 feet and then a 30-foot putt on 17 really saved my round. Overall, I was happy with how the round ended, but I need to regroup for the next two days and make more birdies."
(After 1 Of 3 Days, 1 Of 3 Rounds, 18 Of 54 Holes)
Stanford Golf Course (Par 70, 6758 Yards)
TEAM
1. Washington (278, -2); 2. Stanford (279, -1); T3. USC (286, +6); T3. California (286, +6); T5. Santa Clara (287, +7); T5. Oregon (287, +7); T5. Colorado (287, +7); T8. Northwestern (288, +8); T8. Oklahoma (288, +8); 11. Florida (290, +10); 12. San Jose State (291, +11); 13. UNLV (292, +12); T14. Pepperdine (293, +13); T14. Nebraska (293, +13); 16. McNeese State (294, +14); T17. UC Davis (295, +15); T17. Arizona (295, +15); T17. BYU (295, +15); 20. Saint Mary's (296, +16); 21. Stanford 'B' (297, +17); 22. George Washington (299, +19); 23. Toledo (301, +21); 24. SMU (302, +22); 25. Nevada (304, +24); T26. San Diego (310, +30); T26. Nova Southeastern (310, +30)
PLAYER – INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
T1. Daniel O'Loughlin – Colorado (67, -3); T1. Derek Ackerman – Santa Clara (67, -3); T1. David Snyder – Stanford (67, -3)
PLAYER – CAL INDIVIDUALS
T7. Collin Morikawa (69, -1); T25. KK Limbhasut (71, +1); T25. James Song (71, +1) T76. Kaiwen Liu (75, +5); T98. Ben Doyle (77, +7)