CARLSBAD – California ended the first round of the NCAA Men's Golf Championship squarely in contention with a 1-over-par 289 and two Golden Bears among the top 11 individually. The Bears – who entered the championship as the 29th seed in the 30-team field – shot the low 18-hole score of the morning wave and are tied for eighth through 18 holes at Omni La Costa.
 
Charlie Berridge and Daniel Heo rose to the occasion in their NCAA Championship debuts, shooting 4-under 68 and 3-under 69, respectively, to finish the opening round tied for fourth and 11th on the leaderboard. The duo is close behind clubhouse leader Phichaksn Maichon (-6) of Texas A&M.
 
Cal trails frontrunner Oklahoma (-8) by nine shots and is tied with BYU and Colorado for eighth place while leading a group of five teams that are tied for 14th by four shots. Following 54 holes of competition, the top 15 teams, along with the top nine individuals not on an advancing team, will advance for one additional round of stroke play on Monday to determine the top eight teams for match-play competition and the 72-hole stroke-play individual champion.
 
Berridge – a senior who will return for a fifth year at Cal in 2025-26 – was dialed in from the start, sinking birdies on holes 10-11 to begin the day. He added another four birdies, as well as an eagle on hole 6, to overcome a double bogey on 13 and bogeys on 17 and 9. Heo, a junior, stumbled out the gate and was 2-over-par through his first nine holes before dominating the front nine with a bogey-free 31 and five birdies on holes 2, 3, 5, 6 and 8.
 
Freshman Ziqin (Eric) Zhou carded a 2-over 74 and is tied for 58th individually as Cal's third-best scorer of the first round. Sihao Cong, a redshirt sophomore, is tied for 121st after shooting 6-over 78, while redshirt senior Kuangyu (Tony) Chen – Cal's lone golfer with NCAA Championship experience – shot an 8-over 80.
 
TEAM LEADERBOARD (TOP 5)

Place	Team	To Par	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total
1	Oklahoma	-8	280				280
T2	Florida State	-3	285				285
T2	Florida	-3	285				285
T2	Texas	-3	285				285
T5	Arizona State	-2	286				286
T5	Auburn	-2	286				286
T5	Illinois	-2	286				286
T8	California	+1	289				289

 
CAL ON INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD

Place	Name	To Par	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total
T4	Charlie Berridge	-4	68				68
T11	Daniel Heo	-3	69				69
T58	Ziqin (Eric) Zhou	+2	74				74
T121	Sihao Cong	+6	78				78
T134	Kuangyu (Tony) Chen	+8	80				80

 
NEXT UP
The Bears start the second round on hole 1 between 1:40-2:24 p.m. PT on Saturday.
 
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