SANTA CRUZ – Aaron Du became just the third golfer to shoot a seven-under par 63 at the Western Intercollegiate as he tied the tournament's low 18-hole record and led the California men's golf team to the top of the leaderboard after one round played at Pasatiempo Golf Club on Monday.
 
The Golden Bears shot a collective 16-under 334 in the first round and own a one-stroke lead on a talented 14-team field that features nine top-50 teams, including five ranked among the top 25. No. 22 Oregon (-15) and No. 8 Stanford (-11) claimed second and third place, respectively, at the first round's conclusion.
 
Du set the tone for Cal's hot start, shooting 4-under through the first nine holes, including birdies on holes 4 and 7 along with an eagle on 9. After moving to 8-under with four birdies in a five-hole span between 11 and 15, Du found himself in position to break the tournament's 18-hole record before a bogey at 16 moved him back to 7-under. Du tied Pepperdine's Jason Allred (2000) and Xavier's John Streibich (2007) for the low 18-hole record.
 
"Preparation is key," Du said during an interview with GOLF Channel following his first-round performance. "I've played this course twice – once my freshman year and once last year – and just having that experience prepared me for this week."
 
Cal has four golfers among the top-nine individually through Monday's first round, with Sampson Zheng (-4), Jeewon Park (-3) and Daniel Heo (-3) joining Du toward the top of the leaderboard. The quartet shot a combined 10-under par on the back nine; both Du and Park carded four birdies apiece while Heo notched an eagle on hole 10. Du, Park and Heo all set or tied their personal collegiate single-round lows as well.
 
TEAM LEADERBOARD

Place	Team	To Par	R1	R2	R3	Total
1	California	-16	334
2	Oregon	-15	335
3	Stanford	-11	339
4	Pepperdine	-5	345
T5	Colorado State	+2	352
T5	BYU	+2	352
7	UNLV	+3	353
T8	USC	+4	354
T8	UC Irvine	+4	354
T8	San Jose State	+4	354
T11	Washington	+5	355
T11	San Diego State	+5	355
13	Arizona	+6	356
14	Hawaii	+16	366

 
CAL ON INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD

Place	Name	R1	R2	R3	Total
1	Aaron Du	63 (-7)
T5	Sampson Zheng	66 (-4)
T9	Jeewon Park	67 (-3)
T9	Daniel Heo	67 (-3)
T40	Nathan Wang	71 (+1)
T52	Costas Panay (Ind.)	72 (+2)
T80	Simon Kwon	76 (+6)

 
UP NEXT
Cal's second round at the Western Intercollegiate gets started between 12:22-12:46 p.m. PT on Tuesday. The Bears will tee off hole 1 alongside Washington. Panay, playing as an individual, will tee off at 11:22 a.m. from hole 1. GOLF Channel will provide live coverage from 4-7 p.m. (replay at 8-11 p.m.). Live scoring is available on Golfstat.com.
 
STAY POSTED
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