WESTLAKE VILLAGE – Aaron Du was dominant in his first round of the 2024 spring season, shooting a 5-under-par 66 to lead the No. 18 California men's golf team to an opening-round 281 at the Southwestern Invitational on Monday at North Ranch Country Club.
 
The Golden Bears finished the first round in fifth place at 3-under-par, just four strokes behind leader Texas Tech (-7). Du – a senior who played just three rounds as an individual in the fall – was impressive from start to finish, carding five birdies on the front nine before bouncing back from consecutive bogeys on holes 12-13 with a 1-under effort over the final five holes. He ended his round as the clubhouse leader and will head into Tuesday's second round in a three-way tie for second place individually, four shots behind UNLV's Caden Fioroni (-9).
 
Freshman Ethan Fang started hot with birdies on three of his first five holes – No. 2, 3 and 5 – and rebounded from a difficult middle stretch with another birdie on the hole 13, a par-3, and an eagle on hole 15. Redshirt junior Tony Chen had an eventful back nine with three birdies on holes 11, 12 and 16 sandwiching a bogey on 14 and double bogey on 15 to finish at even par and tied for 25th.
 
TEAM LEADERBOARD

Place	Team	To Par	R1	R2	R3	Total
1	Texas Tech	-7	277
2	USC	-6	278
3	UNLV	-5	279
4	UCLA	-4	280
5	California	-3	281
T6	Pepperdine	E	284
T6	Wake Forest	E	284
T8	San Diego State	+1	285
T8	Ohio State	+1	285
10	Washington	+2	286
11	San Jose State	+4	288
12	Colorado	+6	290
13	Houston	+7	291

 
CAL ON INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD

Place	Name	R1	R2	R3	Total
T2	Aaron Du	66 (-5)
T16	Ethan Fang	70 (-1)
T25	Tony Chen	71 (E)
T43	Eric Lee	73 (+2)
T53	Ethan Chung	74 (+3)
T53	Charlie Berridge	74 (+3)

UP NEXT
Cal's lineup remains grouped with Washington and UCLA in round two Tuesday. They'll tee off hole 10 between 9:17-10:01 a.m. PST, while Eric Lee gets the early start alongside Colorado's Brandon Knight and UCLA's Kyle An at 8:33 a.m. on hole 1.

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