MORGAN HILL – Sampson Zheng started hot and finished strong as he paced the California men's golf team with a 2-under par 70 in the first round of the NCAA Morgan Hill Regional on Monday at The Institute Golf Club.
 
The Golden Bears shot a collective 5-over 293 and are in sole possession of 10th place through 18 holes played. Cal is eight strokes outside of the top five after Monday's round; the top five teams advance from the Morgan Hill Regional to the NCAA Championships following 54 holes of play. Mississippi State (-12), Florida State (-7) and Pepperdine (-4) owned the top three spots after the opening round.
 
Zheng started his day with back-to-back birdies on holes 10 and 11. After a lone bogey on 13, the junior shot even par for 13 consecutive holes before ending the round with a third birdie on hole 9. Zheng was the lone Bear under par on Monday, as he was followed by Aaron Du (+1), Simon Kwon (+2) and Daniel Heo (+4).
 
TEAM LEADERBOARD

Place	Team	To Par	R1	R2	R3	Total
1	Mississippi State	-12	276
2	Florida State	-7	281
3	Pepperdine	-4	284
T4	Charlotte	-3	285
T4	Baylor	-3	285
T6	Louisville	-1	287
T6	Grand Canyon	-1	287
T6	Missouri	-1	287
9	BYU	E	288
10	California	+5	293
11	NC State	+6	294
12	Arizona	+10	298
13	Northern Colorado	+16	304

 
CAL ON INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD

Place	Name	R1	R2	R3	Total
T9	Sampson Zheng	70 (-2)
T40	Aaron Du	73 (+1)
T45	Simon Kwon	74 (+2)
T58	Daniel Heo	76 (+4)
74	Nathan Wang	74 (+9)

 
UP NEXT
Round two will see Cal tee off hole 10 alongside NC State (+6) and Arizona (+10) on Tuesday between 8:55-9:39 a.m. PT. Live results can be tracked on Golfstat.com.
 
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