Eric Mina is in his fourth season as Cal's assistant coach and his eighth campaign associated with the school's men's golf program in 2019-20. Mina graduated from Cal in 2011 after a standout career for the Golden Bears that included Pac-10 individual medalist honors as a 2010 junior. He is one of only four Cal golfers to have ever been a conference individual medalist.
The 2018-19 squad was the first to reach the NCAA Championships with Mina as the team's assistant coach and the Golden Bears finished 10th overall for their highest finish since a pair of teams reached the semifinals of match play at the NCAA's in 2012 and 2013. Cal, who was ranked as high as No. 6 by Golfweek/Sagarin in the spring of 2019, won a pair of events in 2018-19 at the Ka'anapali Classic Collegiate Invitational to close the fall schedule and The Farms Invitational to open the spring. In addition, the Bears won the inaugural Big Match against Stanford.
Cal added three second-place finishes (MacKenzie Invitational, Southwestern Invitational, Western Intercollegiate), two third-place showings (Pac-12 Championships, OFCC/Fighting Illini Invitational), two fourth-place finishes (NCAA Myrtle Beach Regionals, The Goodwin), a fifth-place effort (Southern Highlands Collegiate), an eighth-place finish (Tavistock Collegiate Invitational) and an 11th-place showing (Carpet Capital Collegiate) in 2018-19.
National Player of the Year finalist, first-team Division I PING All-American and Pac-12 Men's Golfer of the Year Collin Morikawa was a finalist for the Ben Hogan Award, Byron Nelson Award and Jack Nicklaus Award in 2018-19 while he is among the top-five players listed on the season's final for the Haskins Award. Morikawa won a pair of individual events in the spring of 2019 by becoming the fourth player in Cal history to win individual medalist honors at the Pac-12 Championships after a victory to open the spring schedule at The Farms Invitational. In addition to his two victories, Morikawa finished tied for 14th or better at each of his 12 events in 2018-19 while his 69.00 stroke average was within 0.32 strokes per round of the then all-time single-season NCAA record of 68.68 Morikawa set as a 2017-18 junior.
Sebastian Crampton and KK Limbhasut were the team's other top players in 2018-19 with both earning Division I PING All-Region honors. Crampton was also a first-team All=Pac-12 selection while Limbhasut was a second-teamer. Crampton was the team's other individual medalist in 2018-19, winning outright for the first time in his career at the Ka'anapali Classic Collegiate Invitational with a 17-under par total that tied Cal's school-record set earlier in the fall by Morikawa during a second-place finish at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational.
Cal was victorious three times during Mina's second season as the team's assistant coach in 2017-18 including a signature victory against one of the top fields in the nation at the Tavistock Collegiate Invitational after finishing last at the event in 2016-17. The Bears were also winners at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational and Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate before finishing the regular season with three consecutive second-place showings at the Querencia Cabo Collegiate, The Goodwin and the Western Intercollegiate. Cal was fifth at the Pac-12 Championships before a disappointing 10th-place showing at the NCAA Raleigh Regionals kept the Bears out of the NCAA Championships. Cal still ranked as high as No. 9 (Golfweek/Sagarin) and No. 12 (Golfstat) in the final national polls.
The Bears struggled as a team during Mina's first campaign as assistant coach in 2016-17, missing NCAA Regionals play for the first time after a school-record run of nine straight appearances with a large part of the struggle due to the trio of Jamie Cheatham, Crampton and Limbhasut redshirting to focus on academics and working on their golf games.
Mina has been instrumental in the development of every Cal player on the roster since he returned to campus including Morikawa, who prior to his 2018-19 accolades was the 2017-18 Men's Golfer of the Year according to Golfweek and one of three finalists for the Ben Hogan Award while earning first-team All-American honors for the second of three seasons Morikawa, Limbhasut and Crampton have all been individual medalists during Mina's tenure with each being named PING Division I All-Region selections in 2017-18 and 2018-19. Morikawa was also a first-team All-Pac-12 choice in all three of Mina's seasons, while Limbhasut was also a first-team All-Pac-12 pick and Crampton a second-team choice in 2017-18 before Crampton was a first-teamer and Limbhasut a second-team pick in 2018-19. Crampton, Ben Doyle and Morikawa were also named 2017-18 All-America Scholars with the 2018-19 All-America scholars yet to be announced.
In addition, Mina has helped Alex and Marie Shipman Director of Men's Golf Walter Chun continue to bring in top talent with their first recruiting class together in 2017 including three of Golfweek's top 60 players led by No. 6 Kaiwen Liu, while the 2018 group includes 2016 U.S. Amateur participant James Song and the 2019 four-player unit features the nation's No. 16 ranked player (Junior Golf Scoreboard) in Aaron Chen as well as Golfweek's No. 48-ranked Kento Yamawaki.
In addition to winning Pac-10 individual medalist honors in 2010, Mina was an honorable mention All-American, PING Division I All-Region and first-team All-Pac-12 selection while winning Cal's MVP and team Coaches Award selections as a 2009-10 junior during his playing days at Cal. He also picked up his first collegiate victory at the Spartan Golf Classic as a junior and was the Pac-10's Golfer of the Month twice in September of 2009 and April of 2010. Mina capped his career as a senior in 2010-11 by adding second-team All-Pac-10 and honorable mention Pac-10 All-Academic honors while sharing the team's Coaches Award.
Mina played professional golf from 2011-14 at events on the Japan Tour, PGA TOUR China, European Tour and Web.com Tour. He also played at the 2010 U.S. Amateur. Prior to rejoining the Cal program as an assistant coach, he worked as a master instructor at the Jeff Isler Golf Academy in Southlake, Texas.
“The ability Eric has to relate to our players on a personal level is remarkable," Chun said. "He’s played professionally; he’s won a league championship; he’s been in their shoes not so long ago. Eric knows so much about the game, but just as importantly he’s extremely personable. Our guys are comfortable around him and know they can reach out to Eric about anything and everything. He plays a very important role in our program.”
Last Updated
May 30, 2019
