MORGAN HILL – California's men's golf season concluded Wednesday with a sixth-place finish in the NCAA Morgan Hill Regional at The Institute Golf Club. The Golden Bears made a push for the top five with a 1-over par 289 in the third round but finished the 54-hole regional just three shots behind the cutline at 14-over.
 
The top five teams – Mississippi State (-1), BYU (+4), Florida State (+7), Baylor (+9) and Pepperdine (+11) – advanced through to the NCAA Championships, played on May 26-31 in Scottsdale, Arizona. After entering the third round in sixth place and five shots outside of the top five, Cal (878, +14) made things interesting with an impressive front-nine effort. Three of five Bears shot under par over the final nine holes as they closed the gap on Pepperdine and pulled within three strokes with three holes to play, before ultimately coming up short in the rally.
 
Sampson Zheng led the charge Wednesday with a 1-under 71, his second under-par round of the regional. The junior finished in a tie for seventh place individually – his sixth top-10 finish of the season – with an even-par 216 over 54 holes. Zheng climbed as high as fourth place when he notched a pair of birdies on holes 5 and 7 before a bogey on 8 brought him back to seventh.
 
Aaron Du, who tied for 24th at 5-over par (221), impressed with a clean front nine that included two birdies of his own on holes 3 and 5 during the third round. Simon Kwon (+12) and Nathan Wang both tied for 50th individually but finished strong; Kwon shot an even-par 72 in the final round while Wang's 1-over 73 was fueled by three birdies in an eight-hole span between 14 and 3.
 
Cal, which made its 24th all-time NCAA Regional appearance, finished the 2022-23 season with 12 top-10 finishes.
 
TEAM LEADERBOARD

Place	Team	To Par	R1	R2	R3	Total
1	Mississippi State	-1	276	298	289	863
2	BYU	+4	288	296	284	868
3	Florida State	+7	281	296	294	871
4	Baylor	+9	285	294	294	873
5	Pepperdine	+11	284	298	293	875
6	California	+14	293	296	289	878
7	Missouri	+23	287	309	291	887
T8	Arizona	+25	298	297	294	889
T8	Louisville	+25	287	303	299	889
10	NC State	+26	294	296	300	890
11	Grand Canyon	+31	287	309	299	895
12	Charlotte	+33	285	317	295	897
13	Northern Colorado	+63	306	316	305	927

 
CAL ON INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD

Place	Name	R1	R2	R3	Total
T7	Sampson Zheng	70 (-2)	75 (+3)	71 (-1)	216 (E)
T24	Aaron Du	73 (+1)	75 (+3)	73 (+1)	221 (+5)
T50	Simon Kwon	74 (+2)	82 (+10)	72 (E)	228 (+12)
T50	Nathan Wang	81 (+9)	74 (+2)	73 (+1)	228 (+12)
T64	Daniel Heo	76 (+4)	72 (E)	84 (+12)	232 (+16)

 
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