California Golden Bears Athletics
Friday, May 24
Fayetteville, AR
4:50 AM
California
vs
NCAA Championships
Collin Morikawa is on top of the leaderboard after the opening round of action at the NCAA Championships.
Photo by: Todd Drexler/SE Sports Media
Morikawa Leads After Opening Round Of NCAA Championships
5/24/2019 8:17 PM | Men's Golf
Golden Bears Tied For Third Two Shots Behind Leader And Top-Seed Oklahoma State
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – California's National Player of the Year candidate Collin Morikawa was indeed the best player in the country Friday when he fired a five-under par 67 to take the lead after the opening round of the NCAA Championships being hosted by Arkansas at the par-72, 7550-yard Blessings Golf Club. Cal was also on top of the team leaderboard for much of the day before finishing the round tied for third with a four-over par score of 292 that is two strokes behind the two-over par 290 posted by leader and top-seed Oklahoma State.
The individual stroke-play title will be determined after 72 holes of play scheduled to conclude Monday, while the top 15 teams after the first 54 holes of stroke play will advance to play in an additional 18 holes on Monday. The top eight teams after 72 holes of stroke play will advance to match play beginning with the quarterfinals and semifinals on Tuesday followed by Wednesday's championship match.
"Coming into this week I knew my games was trending in the right direction and it felt good," Morikawa said. "I heard this course was tough, but I'm always up for the challenge."
"Collin's round today was one of the best ever played at the NCAA Championships especially considering the difficult of this course," Alex and Marie Shipman Director of Men's Golfer Walter Chun said. 'We certainly believe Collin will continue to play well and hopefully finish his illustrious collegiate career with an NCAA individual title, but we are also here to win the team championship and to do that we'll need everybody to do their part."
Kaiwen Liu (72, E) was the next Cal player on the leaderboard in a tie for 12th, while Jamie Cheatham (74, +2) is tied for 29th. KK Limbhasut (79, +7) and Sebastian Crampton (82, +10) both had their highest scores of their senior season and are tied for 105th and in 150th, respectively.
Cal returns to Blessings Golf Club for second-round action Saturday and will play with Stanford and Auburn for the second consecutive round. The start time on the 10th tee for the first of five threesomes from the trio of schools is 6:07 am PT with each subsequent threesome scheduled to tee off in 11-minute intervals with the final tee time from the group at 6:51 am PT.
GOLF Channel will provide live television coverage of the action next Monday-Wednesday.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS LEADERBOARDS
(After 1 Of 4 Days, 1 Of 4 Rounds And 72 Of 72 Holes Of Stroke Play)
Blessings Golf Club (Par 72, 7550 Yards)
TEAM
1. Oklahoma State (290, +2); 2. Stanford (291, +3); T3. Auburn (292, +4); T3. California (292, +4); T5. Texas A&M 296, +8); T5. Wake Forest (296, +8); 7. Ohio State (297, +9); 8. Texas (298, +10); 9. Georgia (300, +12); T10. Arizona State (302, +14); T10. Clemson (302, +14); T12. USC (304, +16); T12. North Carolina (304, +16); T14. Oklahoma (305, +17); T14. Liberty (305, +17); T14. South Carolina (305, +17); T17. Georgia Tech (307, +19); T17. Vanderbilt (307, +19); T19. Georgia Southern (308, +20); T19. SMU (308, +20); T19. LSU (308, +20); 22. North Florida (309, +21); 23. UNLV (310, +22); T24. TCU (311, +23); T24. Illinois (311, +23); 26. Pepperdine (312, +24); T27. Duke (313, +25); T27. Louisville (313, +25); 29. Baylor (314, +26); 30. BYU (322, +34)
PLAYER – INDIVIDUAL LEADER
1. Collin Morikawa – California (67, -5)
PLAYER – CALIFORNIA INDIVIDUALS
1. Collin Morikawa (67, -5); T12. Kaiwen Liu (72, E); T29. Jamie Cheatham (74, +2); T105. KK Limbhasut (79, +7); 150. Sebastian Crampton (82, +10)
The individual stroke-play title will be determined after 72 holes of play scheduled to conclude Monday, while the top 15 teams after the first 54 holes of stroke play will advance to play in an additional 18 holes on Monday. The top eight teams after 72 holes of stroke play will advance to match play beginning with the quarterfinals and semifinals on Tuesday followed by Wednesday's championship match.
"Coming into this week I knew my games was trending in the right direction and it felt good," Morikawa said. "I heard this course was tough, but I'm always up for the challenge."
"Collin's round today was one of the best ever played at the NCAA Championships especially considering the difficult of this course," Alex and Marie Shipman Director of Men's Golfer Walter Chun said. 'We certainly believe Collin will continue to play well and hopefully finish his illustrious collegiate career with an NCAA individual title, but we are also here to win the team championship and to do that we'll need everybody to do their part."
Kaiwen Liu (72, E) was the next Cal player on the leaderboard in a tie for 12th, while Jamie Cheatham (74, +2) is tied for 29th. KK Limbhasut (79, +7) and Sebastian Crampton (82, +10) both had their highest scores of their senior season and are tied for 105th and in 150th, respectively.
Cal returns to Blessings Golf Club for second-round action Saturday and will play with Stanford and Auburn for the second consecutive round. The start time on the 10th tee for the first of five threesomes from the trio of schools is 6:07 am PT with each subsequent threesome scheduled to tee off in 11-minute intervals with the final tee time from the group at 6:51 am PT.
GOLF Channel will provide live television coverage of the action next Monday-Wednesday.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS LEADERBOARDS
(After 1 Of 4 Days, 1 Of 4 Rounds And 72 Of 72 Holes Of Stroke Play)
Blessings Golf Club (Par 72, 7550 Yards)
TEAM
1. Oklahoma State (290, +2); 2. Stanford (291, +3); T3. Auburn (292, +4); T3. California (292, +4); T5. Texas A&M 296, +8); T5. Wake Forest (296, +8); 7. Ohio State (297, +9); 8. Texas (298, +10); 9. Georgia (300, +12); T10. Arizona State (302, +14); T10. Clemson (302, +14); T12. USC (304, +16); T12. North Carolina (304, +16); T14. Oklahoma (305, +17); T14. Liberty (305, +17); T14. South Carolina (305, +17); T17. Georgia Tech (307, +19); T17. Vanderbilt (307, +19); T19. Georgia Southern (308, +20); T19. SMU (308, +20); T19. LSU (308, +20); 22. North Florida (309, +21); 23. UNLV (310, +22); T24. TCU (311, +23); T24. Illinois (311, +23); 26. Pepperdine (312, +24); T27. Duke (313, +25); T27. Louisville (313, +25); 29. Baylor (314, +26); 30. BYU (322, +34)
PLAYER – INDIVIDUAL LEADER
1. Collin Morikawa – California (67, -5)
PLAYER – CALIFORNIA INDIVIDUALS
1. Collin Morikawa (67, -5); T12. Kaiwen Liu (72, E); T29. Jamie Cheatham (74, +2); T105. KK Limbhasut (79, +7); 150. Sebastian Crampton (82, +10)
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Golf
/ Men's Golf
/ Men's Golf
/ Men's Golf
/ Men's Golf
Monday, June 17
Monday, June 17
Monday, May 27
Sunday, May 26
