U.S. Intercollegiate Offers Tough Competition

A loaded field of conference rivals plus the opportunity to fine-tune its game before next week's Pac-10 championships equals one very important prep tournament for the Cal men's golf team.

The Bears will tee off tomorrow with a shotgun start at 7:30 a.m. for the two-day U.S. Intercollegiate hosted by the defending national champions, No. 11 Stanford. The 17-team field also includes No. 3 UCLA, No. 5 USC and No. 20 Arizona State.

"It's a very strong field," coach Steve Desimone said. "You've got eight of the Pac-10 schools, so right off the top you have one of the top fields in the country. And then you have some really good schools. San Diego State's there. University of Toledo, which has a really nice program. This sets up well with the Pac-10 championships the following week so it'll be fun seeing most of the teams."

Because only a few of the Cal golfers have played the par-70, 6,835-yard course on the Stanford campus, Desimone made extra arrangements to get his squad accustomed to the layout. Last Monday, the team was able to hit a practice round on the course, and they are guaranteed at least one more practice round today before competing over the weekend.

"We worked really hard on the short game and putting because Stanford is pretty tough around the greens," freshman Stephen Hale said. "Obviously the ball striking and hitting is something that we always do so we (did) that too … And I think it's more focus on putting and chipping because we really didn't do that well in (the ASU Thunderbird Invitational) with that."

The Bears, who are coming off a disappointing ninth-place finish last time out in the ASU Thunderbird Invitational, are in the midst of what is probably the most intense part of their schedule.

They had only five days to prepare for the U.S. Intercollegiate and will have just a week until they host the Pac-10 championships.

"It's a real busy stretch right here," Desimone said. "So in terms of preparing for the Pac-10s, the best preparation is to keep doing what we've been doing, which is playing well and staying confident."

Cal has no plans to alter the successful lineup that has emerged after some shuffling in the fall and early spring. The Bears are led by Hale and sophomore Evan Derian, who finished in the top 25 at ASU. Freshman Eric Mina, who shot a 2-under final round to close out the Thunderbird Invite, will golf in the third spot.

Senior Brandon Beck and junior All-American candidate George Gandranata round out the lineup.

"We have played very well this spring," Desimone said. "We had a little bit of a hiccup in two mediocre rounds at ASU, but let me tell you-these guys love to compete, and they don't think there's anybody else in the country that's better than they are."

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