University of California Athletics

May 6, 2013

Follow @CalMensGolf

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. - No. 1 Cal became the first team to ever sweep Pac-12 Men's Golfer of the Month honors for an entire season when Max Homa was selected with the conference's final monthly award of the 2012-13 campaign for April of 2013 the conference announced Monday.

Homa started the streak when he was selected for the honor in September of 2012, while teammates Michael Kim (October 2012, March 2012) and Joël Stalter (February 2013) were also part of the record.

Homa led defending conference champion Cal to its second straight Pac-12 Championship crown by winning individual medalist honors in his most recent outing. The victory gave Cal 10 wins in 12 tournaments in 2012-13 to tie an unofficial NCAA single-season record for most victories previously established by the 1985-86 Oklahoma State team. Both Homa and the Bears were dominant at the Pac-12's, leading after each of the four rounds. Homa finished five strokes better than teammate and second-place finisher Michael Weaver, while Cal was nine shots better than second-place and host No. 3 UCLA. Homa started the tournament with a nine-under par 61 in the first round to break the course record at the North Course at Los Angeles Country Club. He was only the third Cal player in the 54-year history of the event to win individual medalist honors and posted the first outright win of his career. He had claimed a share of individual medalist honors once previously at the 2011 John A. Burns Intercollegiate but was defeated on the second hole of a playoff.

Homa also tied for second with Kim to lead Cal to a victory at the Western Intercollegiate earlier this month. Both players shot identical scores (67-73-66 - 206, -4).

"It's truly an honor to be selected as the Pac-12 Men's Golfer of the Month," Homa said. "It has been a great month for both myself and the entire team. I'm glad I could make an impact over the last few weeks."

"Max has been one of the leaders of this team and one of the great players for us over the last four years, and he really put it all together last week at the Pac-12 Championship in what were a dominant performance and a great win at Los Angeles Country Club." head coach Steve Desimone said. "The honor is very deserving. I'm so excited and happy for him. He's worked so hard for this. I suspect bigger and better things are going to be coming from him real soon."

Homa is the team's lone senior to see action in 2012-13 and currently ranked as high as No. 19 nationally according to Golfweek. Homa has a 70.87 stroke average and is second on the team with seven top-10 finishes, also taking second outright once and tying for second on two other occasions prior to his performances at the Pac-12 Championship and Western Intercollegiate in April. Homa was ranked No. 1 early in the season after opening the campaign by tying for second in his first two tournaments at the Gopher Invitational and PING/Golfweek Preview. He was also on The Ben Hogan Award watch list.

Homa earned the honor for the third time in his career as he was also named in February of 2012.

In addition to tying the unofficial all-time NCAA victory record, Cal has won 16 of its last 26 tournaments overall dating back to the beginning of the 2011-12 campaign and finished in the top five in all 26.

Cal, which has been the nation's No. 1 ranked team since winning its first two events of the season, will continue its 2012-13 campaign and attempt to become the first college golf team to ever win 11 tournaments in a single season when the Bears play May 16-18 in the NCAA Regionals for the seventh consecutive season.

Cal will find out which of the six regionals it will play in when the 81 teams qualifying for NCAA Regionals are announced at approximately 6 p.m. PT, on Monday, May 6. The six possible sites are Baton Rouge, La. (University Club, host LSU); Tallahassee, Fla. (Golden Eagle Country Club, host Florida State); Columbus, Ohio (Ohio State University Golf Club Scarlet Course, host Ohio State); Fayetteville, Ark. (The Blessings Golf Club, host Arkansas); Pullman, Wash. (Palouse Ridge Golf Club, host Washington State); and Tempe, Ariz. (ASU Karsten Golf Course, host Arizona State).

A top-five NCAA Regional finish would give Cal a ticket to the NCAA Championship for a school-record fourth consecutive season and ninth time in school history. This year's event will be played May 28 - June 2 and hosted by Georgia Tech at the Crabapple Course at the Capital City Club in Atlanta, Ga. The top eight teams from three days of stroke play in an initial field of 30 teams will advance to match play beginning with quarterfinal action May 31. The Bears reached match play for the first time in school history last season and defeated San Diego State, 3-2, in the quarterfinals for their first NCAA match-play win before falling to top-ranked Alabama by the same score in the semifinals.