LIHU'E, Hawaii – Sampson Zheng sunk three birdies and an eagle over his final six holes to roar back for a share of the individual title at the 2023 John A. Burns Intercollegiate on Friday at the Ocean Course Hokuala. Zheng, who twice carded a collegiate-low 65 in as many days on the way to an 18-under-par finish (65-68-65 – 198), shared co-individual medalist honors with Texas A&M's Sam Bennett.
 
Tournament officials declared Zheng and Bennett co-champions due to a lack of daylight remaining for a playoff as well as the threat of inclement weather on Saturday.
 
Zheng's career performance powered Cal to a fourth-place finish on the team leaderboard, trailing only tournament champion BYU (-54), No. 19 Arizona (-36) and No. 9 Texas A&M (-32). The Golden Bears (277-288-272 – 837) finished 27-under and used a 272 to climb three spots up the leaderboard during the third round.
 
Zheng's share of the individual title – the first of his collegiate career – made it two consecutive years that a Golden Bear has claimed medalist honors at the Burns Intercollegiate, as Aaron Du won the title outright in 2022. Cal now has six all-time individual medalists at the Burns Intercollegiate, tied with New Mexico for the most in tournament history.
 
After shooting a first-round 65 and even par through the first 10 holes of the second round before play was suspended due to darkness on Thursday, Zheng got right back to business on Friday. The junior birdied four of his remaining eight holes in the second round and rolled into the final 18 with ease, picking up birdies on four consecutive holes between 10 and 13 at one point. With three holes to go and two shots off the lead, Zheng picked up a critical eagle on hole 4 to move into a four-way tie for first place. After Bennett moved to 18-under with a birdie on hole 18, Zheng answered with one of his own on hole 6 to secure a share of the title.
 
While Zheng was the motor for Cal's third-round climb up the leaderboard, redshirt junior Costas Panay made an impact with a 5-under 67. Panay (71-75-67 – 213) finished the tournament tied for 38th individually at 3-under. Ethan Chung, playing as an individual, carded Cal's second-lowest 54-hole score at 211 (70-73-68) and tied for 26th.
 
Cal's third-round 272 was its lowest 18-hole score this season.
 
TEAM LEADERBOARD

Place	Team	To Par	R1	R2	R3	Total
1	BYU	-54	273	271	266	810
2	#19 Arizona	-36	278	276	274	828
3	#9 Texas A&M	-32	286	279	267	832
4	California	-27	277	288	272	837
5	San Diego State	-24	292	279	269	840
6	Long Beach State	-20	278	284	282	844
T7	New Mexico	-19	282	282	281	845
T7	Utah	-19	288	284	273	845
9	USC	-17	294	274	279	847
10	Texas El Paso	-16	282	282	284	848
11	Fresno State	-15	284	281	284	849
12	Grand Canyon	-13	287	276	288	851
13	Santa Clara	-12	283	293	276	852
14	UNC Wilmington	-11	295	278	280	853
T15	Washington State	-8	294	283	279	856
T15	UNLV	-8	296	282	278	856
17	Nevada	-6	286	292	280	858
18	Sacramento State	-1	283	285	295	863
T19	Saint Mary's	E	287	294	283	864
T19	Loyola Marymount	E	297	285	282	864
21	Hawaii	+3	288	296	283	867

 
CAL ON INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD

Place	Name	R1	R2	R3	Total
T1	Sampson Zheng	65 (-7)	68 (-4)	65 (-7)	198 (-18)
T26	Ethan Chung (Ind.)	70 (-2)	73 (+1)	68 (-4)	211 (-5)
T38	Costas Panay	71 (-1)	75 (+3)	67 (-5)	213 (-3)
T38	Simon Kwon (Ind.)	69 (-3)	73 (+1)	71 (-1)	213 (-3)
T58	Daniel Heo (Ind.)	74 (+2)	69 (-3)	72 (E)	215 (-1)
T67	Jeewon Park	72 (E)	70 (-2)	74 (+2)	216 (E)
T73	Aaron Du	69 (-3)	77 (+5)	71 (-1)	217 (+1)
T84	Nathan Wang	75 (+3)	75 (+3)	69 (-3)	219 (+3)

 
UP NEXT
Cal is back on the mainland for the San Diego Classic on March 6-7 at the San Diego Country Club.
 
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