Morikawa started Saturday's third and final round in second place two shots behind second-round leader Kaito Onishi of USC but quickly moved into a tie for the lead with a birdie on the par-five opening hole coupled with a bogey by Onishi on the par-three third.
The duo were still tied after the front nine although Onishi twice took one-shot advantages before Morikawa regained a share of the lead each time with Morikawa bogeying the par-four sixth before rebounding with a birdie on the par-five seventh and Onishi making birdie on the par-three eighth before bogeying the par-four ninth.
But both lost their share of the lead when each double bogeyed the par-four 10th with Morikawa's four-putt of the hole his second of the tournament, and although both remained in the hunt the remainder of the way neither would ever reach the top of the leaderboard again.
Stanford's David Snyder took advantage of the pair of the double bogeys from Morikawa and Onishi on the 10th hole to grab a one-shot lead with eight holes to go. Snyder would remain ahead of both players the rest of the way but fell behind teammate Brandon Wu when Snyder bogeyed the par-three 17th that Wu had birdied playing in the group ahead of him. Snyder would make a 40-foot birdie putt on the par-four 18th to force a playoff but Wu won on the first extra hole when he made a bogey on 18 after Snyder needed two shots to get out of a bunker and would up with a double bogey.
Stanford (279-279-274 – 832, -8) won the team title on its home course by a whopping 18 strokes over second-place USC (286-279-285 – 850, +10) while Oklahoma (288-280-286 – 854, +14) finished one shot ahead of the Bears for third.
Kaiwen Liu (75-70-67 – 212, +2) had the best round of the day for Cal and equaled the second best by anyone in the field with his three-under par effort that included a front-nine 32 and four birdies (1, 4, 6, 8) to one bogey (3). Liu played the back nine in even-par 35 with a bogey on the par-four 12th that he got back with a birdie on the par-five 16th. He moved up 27 spots on Saturday to finish in sole possession of 13th place after jumping up 36 spots on Friday.
KK Limbhasut (71-71-76 – 218, +8), James Song (71-75-75 – 221, +11) and Ben Doyle (77-71-81 – 229, +19) were also in the Cal lineup. Limbhasut dropped 22 spots Saturday to finish in a tie for 45th, while Song was down 18 to tie for 65th and Doyle fell 39 to finish in a tie for 109th.
Cal returns to action April 15-17 when the Bears close the regular season at the 73rd Western Intercollegiate Presented By Top Golf. GOLF Channel will provide nine hours of live television coverage (three hours each day) of the event hosted by San Jose State at Pasatiempo Golf Course in Santa Cruz.
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- Morikawa had his strings of consecutive under-par rounds and rounds of par or better snapped at 15 and 20, respectively.
- Morikawa last shot an over-par round with a two-over 72 in the third and final round of his first event of the season at the OFCC/Fighting Illini Invitational on Sept. 16, 2018, while his most recent round not under par was an even-par 72 in the second round of the Tavistock Collegiate on Oct. 22, 2018.
- Liu's 13th-place finish was the third-best of his career and marked his fourth straight top-25 showing
- Cal played at The Goodwin without Sebastian Crampton in its lineup for the first time since his 2014-15 true freshman campaign (excluding his 2016-17 redshirt season). Crampton, who finished third at The Goodwin in 2018, wrapped up playing a four-round Mackenzie Tour qualifying school event as an amateur on Friday at Carlton Oaks Country Club with a tied for seventh-place finish that guarantees him starts in each of the first six events on the 2019 Mackenzie Tour after he turns professional. Crampton, who had suited up for each of Cal's last 42 events excluding his 2016-17 redshirt season), was in attendance Saturday at The Goodwin as a spectator.
Collin Morikawa
- "I really didn't have my game. My putting just kind of let me down throughout the week. We're going to have to regroup and figure out what we need to do, each one of us, because these are the teams we are going to be competing against at the next few events and the rest of the postseason. We've just got to keep focused, look at the positives and move on."
- "We're all pretty excited that our next event at Pasatiempo is going to be on Golf Channel. We're really going to have to stay focused. We don't play with (television) cameras too often, but a lot of the guys know the course well. It's going to be a tough one, but we're ready for it."
(After 3 Of 3 Days, 3 Of 3 Rounds, 54 Of 54 Holes)
Stanford Golf Course (Par 70, 6758 Yards)
TEAM
1. Stanford (279-279-274 – 832, -8); 2. USC (286-279-285 – 850, +10); 3. Oklahoma (288-280-286 – 854, +14); 4. California (286-280-289 – 855, +15); 5. Washington (278-291-288 – 857, +17); 6. UNLV (292-286-282 – 860, +20); 7. Pepperdine (293-290-280 – 863, +23); 8. Santa Clara (287-293-284 – 864, +24); T9. BYU (295-282-290 – 867, +27); T9. Northwestern (288-293-286 – 867, +27); T9. Nevada (304-280-283 – 867, +27); T9. Oregon (287-290-290 – 867, +27); 13. San Jose State (291-288-289 – 868, +28); 14. Colorado (287-292-290 – 869, +29); 15. Florida (290-284-297 – 871, +31); 16. Arizona (295-292-287 – 874, +34); 17. San Francisco (288-292-296 – 876, +36); 18. McNeese State (294-296-287 – 877, +37); T19. Stanford 'B' (297-292-291 – 880, +40); T19. SMU (302-291-217 – 810, +40); T21. Toledo (301-287-293 – 881, +41); T21. Saint Mary's (296-293-292 – 881, +41); 23. Nebraska (293-304-297 – 894, +54); 24. George Washington (299-307-295 – 901, +61); 25. UC Davis (295-308-299 – 902, +62); 26. Nova Southeastern (310-294-300 – 904, +64); 27. San Diego (310-302-297 – 909, +69)
PLAYER – INDIVIDUAL MEDALIST
*T1. Brandon Wu – Stanford (70-69-67 – 206, -4); T1. David Snyder – Stanford (67-71-68 – 206, -4)
*Wu (bogey) defeated Snyder (double bogey) on the first playoff hole (18th)
PLAYER – CAL INDIVIDUALS
T3. Collin Morikawa (69-68-71 – 208, -2); 13. Kaiwen Liu (75-70-67 – 212, +2); T45. KK Limbhasut (71-71-76 – 218, +8); T65. James Song (71-75-75 – 221, +11); T109. Ben Doyle (77-71-81 – 229, +19)