CAREFREE, Ariz. – Sampson Zheng carded a 6-under-par 65 and 21st-ranked California moved into a tie for second place in the third round of the Pac-12 Men's Golf Championship at Desert Forest Golf Club on Saturday.
 
The Golden Bears (+33) shot a third-round 5-over-par 360 – the lowest in the tournament field on Saturday – and ended the penultimate day of the Pac-12 Championship tied with Washington (+33) and just three shots behind leader Arizona State (+30) with 18 holes to play. Zheng (+3) climbed 27 spots on the individual leaderboard into a tie for fifth place while freshman Ethan Fang (-1) shot even-par 71 and will enter the final round in sole possession of second, one stroke behind clubhouse leader Wenyi Ding (-2) of Arizona State.
 
Zheng was Cal's anchor all day, tallying seven birdies, including four throughout a bogey-free back nine holes. The senior – who has two career top-10 finishes at the Pac-12 Championship – shot 76-75 on the first day of the tournament and was tied for 32nd after 36 holes. Fang notched a birdie on the par-4 hole 5 and later bogeyed hole 12, but otherwise maintained his position at the front of the field.
 
Both Fang and Zheng will start the final round of the Pac-12 Championship within striking distance of an individual title. Four Golden Bears – Charlie Wi (1995), Eric Mina (2010), Max Homa (2013) and Collin Morikawa (2019) – have been crowned as the Pac-12 individual medalist.
 
Eric Lee (+9) and Jeewon Park (+12) are tied for 18th and 27th through 54 holes. Lee carded three back nine birdies but triple-bogeyed the 18th to finish the round at 3-over.
 
Aaron Du, who was tied for 39th after 36 holes, was disqualified Saturday after signing for an incorrect scorecard.
 
Highlights from the third round will air on Pac-12 Network at 10 a.m. PT Sunday morning.
 
TEAM LEADERBOARD

Place	Team	To Par	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total
1	Arizona State	+30	368	365	362		1095
T2	Washington	+33	349	374	375		1098
T2	California	+33	368	370	360		1098
4	Oregon	+35	368	362	70		1100
5	Stanford	+41	359	378	369		1106
6	Oregon State	+60	375	380	370		1125
7	UCLA	+62	370	381	376		1127
8	Arizona	+65	378	382	370		1130
9	Colorado	+70	370	390	375		1135
10	Utah	+73	366	394	378		1138
11	USC	+79	374	396	374		1144
12	Washington State	+82	381	389	377		1147

 
CAL ON INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD

Place	Name	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total
2	Ethan Fang	71	70	71		212 (-1)
T5	Sampson Zheng	76	75	65		216 (+3)
T18	Eric Lee	74	74	74		222 (+9)
T27	Jeewon Park	71	78	76		225 (+12)
T34	Nathan Wang	76	77	74		227 (+14)
T71	Aaron Du	78	74	DQ		N/A

 
UP NEXT
The Bears will be paired with Arizona State and Washington in the final round of the Pac-12 Championship. Tee times range between 8:36-9:31 a.m. PT.
 
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