MORGAN HILL – California put itself within striking distance to advance through the NCAA Men's Golf Morgan Hill Regional by climbing four spots on the leaderboard with an 8-over par 296 in round two on Tuesday at The Institute Golf Club.
 
The Golden Bears (293-296 – 589, +13) are in sole possession of sixth place and find themselves five strokes behind fifth-place BYU (+8) heading into Wednesday's third and final round; the top five teams advance from the Morgan Hill Regional to the NCAA Championships, played on May 26-31 in Scottsdale, Arizona. After eight teams shot under par on Monday, no team was better than 6-over par during the second round, allowing Cal to make a jump.
 
Daniel Heo (+4) made the biggest difference for the Bears on Tuesday as he climbed 31 spots on the individual leaderboard into a tie for 27th with an even-par 72. The freshman was even par through his first seven holes and finished strong with birdies on holes 3 and 7 after recording a pair of bogeys in a three-hole stretch between 17 and 1.
 
Sampson Zheng (+1) finished the day in a tie for 13th following a 3-over 75. He was unable to notch a birdie in the second round, but remained steady with just three bogeys to go along with 15 pars. The Cal junior is five strokes behind clubhouse leaders Maximilian Steinlechner (-4) of North Carolina State and Luke Clanton (-4) of Florida State with 18 holes to play.
 
Cal's Aaron Du (+4), who tallied a team-high three birdies on holes 1, 10 and 11, shot a 3-over 75 in the second round and is tied with Heo at 27th.
 
Mississippi State (-2), Florida State (+1), Baylor (+3) and Pepperdine (+6) own the top four spots through Tuesday.
 
TEAM LEADERBOARD

Place	Team	To Par	R1	R2	R3	Total
1	Mississippi State	-2	276	298		574
2	Florida State	+1	281	296		577
3	Baylor	+3	285	294		579
4	Pepperdine	+6	284	298		582
5	BYU	+8	288	296		584
6	California	+13	293	296		589
T7	Louisville	+14	287	303		590
T7	NC State	+14	294	296		590
9	Arizona	+19	298	297		595
T10	Grand Canyon	+20	287	309		596
T10	Missouri	+20	287	309		596
12	Charlotte	+26	285	317		602
13	Northern Colorado	+16	306	316		622

 
CAL ON INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD

Place	Name	R1	R2	R3	Total
T13	Sampson Zheng	70 (-2)	75 (+3)		145 (+1)
T27	Aaron Du	73 (+1)	75 (+3)		148 (+4)
T27	Daniel Heo	76 (+4)	72 (E)		148 (+4)
T62	Nathan Wang	81 (+9)	74 (+2)		155 (+11)
T68	Simon Kwon	74 (+2)	82 (+10)		156 (+12)

 
UP NEXT
Cal will be grouped with fourth-place Pepperdine (+6) and fifth-place BYU (+8) during the third round on Wednesday. Tee times will be between 8-8:44 a.m. PT on hole 10. Live results can be tracked on Golfstat.com.
 
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