MURRELLS INLET, S.C. – Cal (288, E) recovered from a tough start to finish first-round action Monday in a tie for fifth place at the NCAA Myrtle Beach Regional. The five players in the Golden Bears' lineup were 10-over par as a full team with its four scoring players seven-over par and near the bottom of the 14-team field through seven holes before playing the final 11 holes in a combined eight-under par overall including a seven-under par effort from its four scorers.

"We hung tough today, and I like where we stand," Alex and Marie Shipman Director of Men's Golf Walter Chun said. "We didn't start of very well, but the team stepped up big on the back nine to salvage the round and keep us in the mix."

KK Limbhasut is the top Cal player on the leaderboard in a tie for sixth after an opening-round three-under par 69 at the par-72, 6950-yard TPC Myrtle Beach. Limbhasut played the final 11 holes in four-under par after being one-over after seven. Limbhasut started his run by making back-to-back 30-foot birdies on the final two holes of the front nine before while adding two more birdies on the back nine on the 12th and 18th holes. All were par-fours other than the par-five 18th. His lone bogey of the round came on the par-four fourth.

Kaiwen Liu (72, E) is the next Cal player on the leaderboard in a tie for 20th followed by Sebastian Crampton (73, +1) in a tie for 29th, and both Collin Morikawa (74, +2) and James Song (74, +2) in a tie for 35th.

Illinois (279, -9) leads the team competition after the opening round of the three-day, 54-hole event being co-hosted by Coastal Carolina and the Myrtle Beach Regional Sports Alliance. Ohio State (284, -4) is in second place followed by Wake Forest (286, -2) and Florida State (286, -2) in a tie for third with Cal and UNLV (288, E) tied for fifth.

Illinois also has the first-round individual leader in Adrien Dumont de Chassart (67, -5) one stroke in front of the foursome of Caleb Ramirez (Ohio State), Michael Feagles (Illinois), Will Voetsch (Ohio State) and Zack Taylor (Coastal Carolina) tied for second after rounds of four-under par 68. Limbhasut is tied with Oregon's Edwin Yi for sixth.

Second-round action of the NCAA Myrtle Beach Regional is scheduled to begin Tuesday at 7:30 am ET/4:30 am PT. Cal will play in five threesomes along with Florida State and UNLV starting from the 10th tee at 8 am ET/5 am PT.
"We have two more rounds to play," Chun said. "We just need to keep our composure and take things one shot at a time."

The top five teams and one individual not from those teams from each of the six NCAA Regionals being played this Monday-Wednesday will advance to a field of 30 squads and six additional individuals playing May 24-29 at the NCAA Championships hosted by Arkansas at The Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark.

NCAA MYRTLE BEACH REGIONAL LEADERBOARDS
(After 1 Of 3 Days, 1 Of 3 Rounds, 18 Of 54 Holes)
TPC Myrtle Beach (Par 72, 6950 Yards)
 
TEAM
1. Illinois (279, -9); 2. Ohio State (284, -4); T3. Wake Forest (286, -2); T3. Florida State (286, -2); T5. California (288, E); T5. UNLV (288, E); T7. Texas Tech (289, +1); T7. Oregon (289, +1); 9. Cal State Fullerton (292, +4); T10. Oregon State (296, +8); T10. Northwestern (296, +8); 12. VCU (301, +13); T13. Middle Tennessee State (305, +17); T13. Robert Morris (305, +17)
 
PLAYER – INDIVIDUAL LEADER
1. Adrien Dumont de Chassart – Illinois (67, -5)
 
PLAYER – CALIFORNIA INDIVIDUALS
T6. KK Limbhasut (69, -3); T20. Kaiwen Liu (72, E); T29. Sebastian Crampton (73, +1); T35. Collin Morikawa (74, +2); T35. James Song (74, +2)
 
MORE …

• Limbhasut has a pair of tied for fourth place finishes at NCAA Regionals on his resume in Lubbock in 2015 and Tucson in 2016
• Liu had birdies on two of his final four holes on the par-four 15th and par-five 18th after playing the first 16 holes in two-over par with bogeys at the par-four fourth and par-three seventh in addition to the first 12 of his 14 pars
• Crampton had his lone birdie of the day on the par-three 11th while his two bogeys came on the par-three fifth and par-four ninth
• Morikawa had a team-high birdies but also a double bogey and five bogeys. He was three-over par after two holes following a double bogey on the par-five second after he hit two drives into the hazard off the tee and a bogey on the par-four third. He would get back to even par by playing an 11-hole stretch of golf (holes 6-16) in three-under par with all five of his birdies on a pair of par-fives (6, 14) and a trio of par-fours (9, 11, 16) mixed in with his second and third bogeys on the par-three seventh and 13th holes, but gave two strokes back with bogeys on his final two holes after not getting up and down to save par on the par-three 17th and hitting his second shot in the water going for the par-five 18th in two.
• Song had three birdies on the final five holes on the par-five 14th and 18th, as well as the par-four 15th but was four-over par through 10 holes with bogeys on the par-four fourth and 10th holes sandwiching two more on the par-three fifth and seventh. He added another bogey on the par-four 16th.
• Cal has three seniors in the lineup in Morikawa, Crampton and Limbhasut each looking to advance to the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2016 with the trio now having combined for 10 individual victories, 144 events and 440 rounds.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING …
 
KK LImbhasut

• "Our team got off to a very slow start, but we played tough on the back nine when it got windy and gained some shots back. We still have to play very smart golf going into the last two rounds."

 
Collin Morikawa

• "Today was a real struggle and a grind. I didn't really have my game. I managed to make some birdies throughout the round, but I made too many mistakes to finish with a solid round."
• "These next two days will require all of us to focus and know that each shot counts. The leaderboard is packed and all it takes is one great shot or one poor shot to put us on either side of the top five. We have what it takes and we'll definitely put it all out there the next couple of days."