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Winning is not foreign to the Cal men’s golf team. Coming off of one of the most successful seasons in college golf history allowed the team to have tremendous confidence coming into the new year. Add the top player this year receiving a tremendous accolade last week and a huge victory in the team’s most recent tournament. There is clearly no denying that the Bears have it in themselves to win. The team will try to use this to its advantage when it hosts the Alister Mackenzie Invitational on Monday and Tuesday.

Cal will be hosting its only tournament of the season in Sonoma, Calif., at the Sonoma Golf Club. The tournament consists of 16 teams on a 7,103-yard course that is par-72. Teams taking part in the tournament include Pac-12 foes No. 23 Arizona State, Colorado, Oregon and Oregon State. Also competing in the event are local rivals USF, Fresno State and San Jose State.

Hosting the tournament adds a level of ease that makes it unique from any other.

“(Having) friendly faces at the tournament just makes you that more comfortable,” said senior Brandon Hagy.

The Bears are ranked No. 4 in the country, despite a dominant win a couple of weeks ago at the Jack Nicklaus Invitational in Ohio (281-280-281 – 842, -10). Cal finished the event 19 strokes ahead of second-place Oklahoma (No. 12).

Individually, Hagy (71-67-69 -207-6) ended the event in first place. His performance from that tournament and other tournaments this season led to him being named the Pac-12 Men’s Golfer of the Month for September. Hagy is the sixth Cal player in a row to receive this honor. He has a 69.4-stroke average and has medaled in each of the tournaments he has played in this season.

“The Pac-12 is the best golf conference in the country, so any time you win an award like that in a conference that is so competitive, it shows that a lot of the hard work I am putting in is paying off,” Hagy said.

Despite the confidence Cal feels coming into the event, the team will have some obstacles to overcome. Hagy is coming into the tournament at less than 100 percent after injuring his foot Wednesday night. Michael Kim was ill coming into the weekend and is unable to play in the tournament. Not having these top players in optimal health hurts the team.

“We have a lot of really good players on this team, but to lose last year’s National Player of the Year, the reigning Pac-12 player of the year and arguably the No. 1 player in the country, you got both of those guys out of your lineup — those are big holes to fill,” said head coach Steve Desimone.

Additionally, the Bears are hosting the event at the Sonoma Golf Club, as opposed to hosting it at the Meadow Club in Fairfax, Calif., where the tournament was held from 2002 to 2007 and 2009 to 2012. The team is not as familiar with this course, which may reduce the advantage of hosting the event.

Despite all of this, Desimone still has high expectations.

“I have a great deal of confidence they will be ready to go come Monday morning,” he said.

No matter what conditions the team plays in, confidence will be the key to victory.

Alaina Getzenberg covers golf. Contact her at agetzenberg@dailycal.org

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Victoria Chow/File

Last season’s National Player of the Year, Michael Kim (72-76-70 – 218, +5), had 11 bogeys in the first two rounds alone, capping off a miserable first day of play. All-American Michael Weaver (71-73-73 – 217, +4) did not fare much better, with 10 bogeys and two double-bogeys.

Despite this, Cal (281-280-281 – 842, -10) rolled over the competition to place first at the Jack Nicklaus Invitational at the Scarlet Golf Course in Dublin, Ohio, on Sunday and Monday. Cal relied on a strong team performance, with four players placing in the top 10. Leading was Brandon Hagy (71-67-69 – 207, -6), who took home top individual honors for the second time in his career.

Cal continued its dominant streak, trouncing the second-place team, Oklahoma (293-298-286 – 877, +25), by 19 strokes after a similarly impressive performance at the St. Mary’s Invitational, where the team won by 30 strokes. This win is the 20th time in the last 31 tournaments dating back to the 2011-12 season that Cal has taken first place in a stroke-play event. No. 23 Kent State (288-282-284 – 854, -10) and No. 24 Mississippi State (300-292-299 – 891, +39) finished fourth and sixth, respectively, while the host team, Ohio State (299-299-301 – 899, +47), took eighth place.

“The greens were very tough,” said coach Steve Desimone. “You just got to play the entire game.You gotta hit it, chip it and putt it well. You name it: You got to do it. You have to have depth in your game.”

Hagy, who has placed in the top three in each tournament this year, continued his excellent play by drilling 12 birdies over three rounds. He finished the first round at par but followed it up with a score of 67 in the second round, tied for the lowest score of the day. He nailed back-to-back birdies on the par-5 12th and par-3 13th holes. Hagy capped off his tournament-leading play with a 69-stroke performance in the third and final round, good enough for first-place honors.

“I read the greens well, and my speed was really good the whole day,” Hagy said. “The putts I made were all kind of falling with good speed.”

Shotaro Ban (68-72-72 – 212, -1) had the best first round of all the Bears, with a 68-stroke performance, highlighted by five consecutive birdies from the fourth to eighth holes. But his back nine were not nearly as good, as he had a bogey and a double-bogey on the par-4 11th hole.

Pace Johnson (71-68-70 – 209, -4) had the best finish of his collegiate career, with a third-place finish, and shot consistently well each round, topping off an impressive three rounds of play with 14 birdies, including back-to-back birdies in the first and third round. He held the lead over Taylor Pendrith (67-73-68 – 208, -5) of Kent State going into the third round. Johnson nearly took second-place honors, but Pendrith hit consecutive birdies on the 12th, 13th and 14th holes, and Johnson finished poorly with bogeys on the two final holes.

“We did a lot of things right,” Desimone said. “We did what we needed to do. We executed beautifully. This was one of the good ones.”

Winston Cho covers golf. Contact him at wcho@dailycal.org

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Cal Athletics/Courtesy

After an underwhelming showing at the Gopher Invitational to tee off the 2013-14 season, No. 1 Cal rebounded with a strong effort to place first at the St. Mary’s Invitational at the Bayonet and Black Horse Golf Courses in Seaside, Calif., on Monday and Tuesday. Not only did Cal win — it crushed the competition (288-282-284 – 854, -10), leaving no doubt it is the best team in the country. The win puts Cal back on track for another Pac-12 title.

After struggling without Michael Kim and Michael Weaver two weeks prior, the Bears scored an overwhelming 30 shots lower than second-place Oregon (297-293-294 – 884, +20). Among other notable teams that competed were No. 25 St. Mary’s (294-294-301 – 889, +25) and San Diego (304-287-295 – 886, +22).

“Our hope is to try and get better with each tournament,” said associate head coach Walter Chun. “Our ultimate goal is to defend our Pac-12 title but also to try and win the state championship.”

Led by the senior Weaver (70-70-70 – 210, -6) who played consistently well each round on the par-72 courses, Cal dominated from start to finish, shooting at or below par in all three rounds of play. Weaver drilled five birdies in the first round and followed his excellent play with seven in the second round. But his double bogey on the par-5 eighth hole severely hurt his lead over Grant Forrest of San Diego State (71-69-69 – 209, -7) who beat Weaver by one stroke.

Forrest was tied with Weaver going into the final day of play, with senior Brandon Hagy (71-71-69 – 211, -5) trailing by two strokes. Weaver held a one-stroke lead over Forrest after two birdies on the 10th and 11th holes. Forrest then birdied the par-3 17th and par-5 18th holes to clinch the game, narrowly beating Weaver.

“I thought I played well and had a good start,” Hagy said. “I hit the ball well and didn’t have any bogeys.”

Cal had three of the top-10 golfers, with junior Michael Kim (78-68-72 – 218, +2) joining Weaver and Hagy. Kim struggled in the first round, racking up five bogeys and two double bogeys. The All-American bounced back in the second round, however, shooting four under par. This, along with his par performance in the third round, gave Kim a relatively disappointing eighth-place finish.

Ringing out the bottom for Cal, Shotaro Ban (69-73-78 – 220, +4) shot an impressive 69 the first round but got progressively worse as the tournament wore on. He had five bogeys in the third round alone, including a double bogey on the par-4 ninth hole. Pace Johnson (71-76-73 – 220, +4) played a well-balanced game and tied with Ban for a 12th-place finish.

“They played great. It was a team effort from top to bottom,” Chun said. “They just played well.”

Winston Cho covers men’s golf. Contact him at wcho@dailycal.org.

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Dan Avila/Courtesy

In any other year, Cal rugby would have taken the spot as the best Cal sport. It’s hard to argue with a track record that includes 26 championships since 1980.

But not this year.

The Cal men’s golf team had one of the greatest seasons of all time. In any sport. Ever.

The team’s 11 tournament wins are the most in collegiate golf history, breaking a record that has stood since the 1970s. There are only 13 tournaments in the entire year. The team dominated the rankings, remaining at the No. 1 spot in the country for nearly the entire season.

It’s hard to even fathom those numbers, much less argue against them.

And the squad was loaded with star power. Michael Kim won the Haskins award and the Jack Nicklaus award, each naming him the top golfer in the country. The rising junior was also ranked at the top spot by Golfweek and had the lowest stroke average in the country heading into the NCAA championship.

Then there are Michael Weaver, Joel Stalter and Max Homa — who rank at No. 11, No. 12 and No. 13, respectively. And let’s not forget Brandon Hagy at No. 19. Rankings aren’t everything, of course, but that kind of depth is unbelievable. Only Alabama can come close in numbers, and the Crimson Tide went 0-4 against the Bears in the regular season.

The only black mark on the team, of course, was the NCAA Championship. The Bears were the overwhelming favorite going into the title event but ended with just a fourth-place finish.

Tears were shed. Ultimately, a historic season ended with an equally historic upset.

Often, that is the way sports go. Upsets happen. It might sound like a cliche, but that is why they play the games.

But this is not the same. The men’s golf team did not get upset — they got screwed.

The golf team’s season is not analogous to the season of the 2007 Patriots, who went undefeated in the regular season only to lose the Super Bowl. Nor is it similar to the season of the 2001 Seattle Mariners, who won as many games as any baseball team ever only to be upended by the Yankees in the ALCS.

Those teams lost fair and square, but the Cal men’s golf team suffered their fate due to an unfair system. Though the regular season for golf uses stroke-play events, the NCAA Championship switches to match-play. Match-play events can, ultimately, be more exciting to watch by leading to improbable upsets. But those upsets come at the integrity of the game, which should be designed to reward those teams that are the best.

And the men’s golf squad was undeniably that — the best. Why else would awards, like coach Steve Desimone’s coach of the year award, keep flooding in even after they lost at the NCAAs?

So screw the NCAAs. The Cal men’s golf team is already looking to the future, confident in the knowledge that the team’s 2013 effort was one of the best ever.

Sure, losing Homa, the team’s only senior, will hurt. He is a tough piece to replace. But the team last year was already so far above its competitors that there is no reason next year can’t result in the capture of that elusive championship.

Contact Riley McAtee at rmcatee@dailycal.org. Follow him on Twitter @riley_mcatee

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John Todd/GoldenBearSports.com/Courtesy

In mid-June, three Cal players took part in the U.S. Open. Michael Kim was able to shine not just among the Bears competing but among the entire field as a whole when he shot up to a tie for third place on Saturday. He finished the tournament at 10 over, making him the low amatuer. Kim spoke to The Daily Californian about his experience at the U.S. Open and about the Cal men’s golf team’s season in general.

On his goals going into the U.S. Open:

My goal was to just make the cut. Merion is a tough course, so I was hoping to just be able to play on Saturday. So I didn’t have a big goal like winning or anything like that. I just wanted to make the cut. And yeah, it felt great once I made it.

On whether nerves affected his play:

Not really. Mostly, I was just focused on my game. I was trying to just have fun and play it like I would any other course. I didn’t feel nervous at the time, but looking back on it now, I probably was. I was trying to just be patient and play well, and I don’t think nerves really had a huge impact.

On his thoughts when he saw his name in a tie for third on the leaderboard:

It was really cool. I just remember thinking that it was really cool. I looked up and saw my name with Mickelson and Donald and other great golfers. And yeah, I don’t know what else to say, except it was just really cool.

On the difficulty of Merion:

I remember thinking in the practice rounds, “Wow, this course is tough.” It might be shorter, but the fairways are narrow, and it’s just hard. And then I got out there on Thursday and was hitting the right shots. But it was always tough. Merion is tough. So it was challenging, but it was also a lot of fun.

On being paired with Rickie Fowler, a golfer who also burst onto the national scene at a young age, on Sunday:

Rickie was focused on his own game, and so was I. We talked a little but not too much. He didn’t really offer any amazing advice.

On the Cal men’s golf team’s season being cut short:

The NCAAs were a disappointment for us, but we still had a great season. It isn’t a huge takeaway from what we accomplished because we know that we were the best team.

On his goals for the future:

The NCAA Championship. We are losing Max (Homa), but I think we can still do it. Definitely the NCAAs.

Contact Riley McAtee at rmcatee@dailycal.org. Follow him on Twitter @riley_mcatee

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Cal Athletics/Courtesy

For coach Steve Desimone, there is no question about it — the Cal men’s golf team had the greatest season in collegiate golf history.

So what if the Bears tied for third at the NCAA championships? Can a team be the best without even winning the ultimate prize? Desimone thinks so.

“I’ll be honest with you,” Desimone said, “the only reason this team didn’t win is because the format was different from ’04.”

The Cal team had 11 victories in just 14 stroke-play events, breaking a record that has stood since the 1970s. However, the NCAA tournament is not a stroke-play event but a match-play one, a format that is much more suspenseful for fans but that Desimone calls “a crapshoot.”

“Anything can happen in a round of match play,” he said.

And what happened was a historic upset. Cal lost to Illinois on June 1, ending the Bears’ NCAA run and giving them a third-place finish.

Although their finish was a disappointment for Desimone and the Bears, it didn’t take away from what the team, which the coach calls the “best in the country,” accomplished.

“Nothing diminishes what we did this year,” Desimone said, dismissing the idea that the loss in the NCAAs changes his perspective on the season.

Cal’s accomplishments include more than just its record-breaking number of victories. The Bears, who were ranked No. 1 with all 20 first-place votes for nearly the entire season, outscored their opponents by a combined 7,000 shots. To put that number into perspective, the three tournaments that Cal lost were by five shots. Combined.

The team also sent three players to the U.S. Open — another record for a collegiate golf team.

And what about the team that eventually ended up winning the NCAA tournament? Although Alabama took home the crown, it was 0-4 against the Bears in the regular season. Cal outscored the Crimson Tide by a combined 35 shots on the year.

“The numbers are so overwhelming it’s hard to argue against,” says Desimone. “There has never been a run like this in the history of college golf.”

And Desimone would know if there had been a run as impressive. He has been coaching the Cal men’s golf team for 35 years and recently won the Dave Williams Award, naming him the top college golf coach in the country. He also was named the coach of the year by Golfweek magazine.

“It’s a team award, not an individual one,” Desimone said of the accolades. “As a team, we had an incredibly great season.”

While their results at the NCAAs still sting, coach Desimone and the team are already looking toward the future. The main challenge will be replacing star Max Homa — the only senior on the squad. That’s a task that Desimone says “is going to be difficult.”

But despite that task ahead of him, Desimone is nothing but optimistic about next year.

“Next season is going to top this season,” Desimone said. “Every player believes it. We’re going to win an NCAA championship.”

Contact Riley McAtee at rmcatee@dailycal.org. Follow him on Twitter @riley_mcatee

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As Michael Kim stood on the 15th green at the U.S. Open on Saturday, the Cal men’s golfer glanced up at the leaderboard and smiled.

The 19-year-old rising junior wasn’t looking to see where his four birdies in the past six holes put him up on the board. He wasn’t grinning because he was tied at third place among a 156-player field and had a legitimate chance at contention.

“I kept looking at the leaderboard — not because I wanted to know how I was doing in the tournament, but it was so cool to see my name next to those names, like Mickelson, Donald, Schwartzel,” Kim said in a post-round interview with Bob Costas. “It was just an incredible feeling.”

The humble amateur golfer completed an impressive run at the 2013 U.S. Open this past weekend at the Merion Golf Club near Ardmore, Pa. Kim finished the tournament at No. 17 and as the low amateur after reaching as high as third place on the overall leaderboard on Saturday.

After a respectable first two days of the major tournament, Kim made the cut tied for No. 8 on the scoreboard, while Cal teammate Michael Weaver barely passed the cut line at eight over to enter the third round.

While Weaver struggled with several bogeys on Saturday, Kim peaked in his third round, shooting one bogey but later consistently hitting par.

After the ninth hole, Kim shot four birdies in a six-hole stretch to take him to even par in the overall tournament. Just one shot back of the lead, Kim was momentarily near the top of the U.S. Open leaderboard.

But his position atop the board was short-lived — the Southern California native snap-hooked his tee shot on No. 16 to the left, finding the rough and making a bogey. Kim then accumulated a double bogey on the 17th hole and another bogey on the last hole to end the third round.

Kim slipped from third place to 10th place to complete the third day, shooting one over to sit at five shots behind leading pro Phil Mickelson.

“I didn’t feel that nervous, but I think I was, looking back on it,” Kim said. “I kind of went through that what-if situation in my head. What if I won, or what if I did this. I tried to snap back out of it, but I hit an awful tee shot on the next hole.”

On the last day, although Kim managed to post two birdies, he struggled with his tee shots and hit several in the rough to garner four bogeys and two double bogeys throughout round four. But the rising Cal junior is ultimately proud of his overall No. 17 performance at the major tournament — the third-best finish by an amateur in the last 30 years.

“I had a difficult ending, but the overall week, it’s just been an unbelievable experience,” Kim said. “I think I gained a lot of confidence from that. I met a ton of great players out here, and (I’m) just looking forward to what my future holds. It’s just an experience I’ll never forget.”

Contact Janice Chua at jchua@dailycal.org.

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The Cal men’s golf team will send an unprecedented three players to the U.S. Open this weekend.

Michael Kim, Max Homa and Michael Weaver will represent the Bears in the prestigious tournament at the Merion Golf Club in Pennsylvania, where they will play alongside the best golfers in the world. Kim and Homa earned their spots in the sectional qualifying rounds, while Weaver was previouly guaranteed a spot as the 2012 U.S. Amateur runner-up. This is the first time in U.S. Open history that a single college has sent three players to the tournament.

The Merion Golf Club features the shortest course for the U.S. Open in more than a decade. But that does not make it easy.

“During the practice round, all I could think was how hard this course is,” Kim said. “But everybody is playing the same golf course. And I don’t think (the scores) will be as low as everyone is thinking.”

The short course could actually help Kim, who says that hitting fairways and greens is his strong point. Meanwhile Weaver, who played in the Masters earlier this year, echoed Kim’s concerns about the difficulty of the course.

“I know it will be difficult,” Weaver said. “So I just want to go out there and enjoy the experience.”

All three will play in the first two rounds on Thursday and Friday. After that, it remains to be seen whether their scores will make the cut to play on the final two days.

Regardless of what happens, all three Bears are excited to be in the field at one of golf’s most exclusive tournaments.

“Tomorrow will be a blast and a dream come true,” Homa said. “I can’t wait to get out there.”

The tournament will be broadcast on ESPN each day from 6 a.m. to noon and on NBC from noon to 2 p.m.

Contact Riley McAtee at rmcatee@dailycal.org

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Kore Chan/Staff

Cal men’s golf superstar Michael Kim has done it again.

The sophomore can now add “winner of the Haskins award” to the hefty list of achievements he has garnered throughout the season.

The Haskins Award — college golf’s most coveted accolade — is voted on by college golfers, coaches and members of the national media and given to the national player of the year in men’s collegiate golf. The Fred Haskins Commission announced on Tuesday that Kim was the 43rd recipient of the award and the first Cal men’s golfer to ever achieve such an honor.

“Voters have once again recognized an outstanding golfer and an equally impressive young man,” said J. Madden Hatcher, the commission president. “Michael Kim was the No. 1 player on the nation’s No. 1 team and certainly deserves to have his name added to the Haskins Award’s legendary list of past winners.”

Previous recipients of the Haskins Award have collectively won 28 of the elite Major Championships and more than 260 professional tournaments held around the world. Kim joins a list of top-notch golfers that includes Tiger Woods, Matt Kuchar and Phil Mickelson — all now immensely successful professional golfers.

Along with the award, Kim earned a sponsor’s exemption to play in the 2013 Greenbrier Classic, a tournament stop in the PGA Tour, from July 4 to July 7 in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.

“It’s unbelievable to think my name will be on the same trophy as Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and many others,” Kim said. “I can’t wait for the opportunity to play at the Greenbrier Classic with the very best players in the world.”

The Southern California native will add to a list of achievements that includes two other previously earned national player-of-the-year awards. Having consistently topped the Golfweek/Sagarin college rankings, Kim was named the Golfweek/Sagarin Player of the Year for 2013. He later picked up the Jack Nicklaus Award — presented by the Golf Coaches Association of America — which recognizes the top players at the Division I, II, III, NAIA and NJCAA levels.

But to Kim, the Haskins Award isn’t just another one of the many honors he has received throughout the year.

“I did win the Jack Nicklaus Award, but the Fred Haskins Award is different and unique in its own right because it’s voted by my peers, my coaches, the players and a few of the media people that follow college golf,” Kim said. “To be voted by your peers as having the best collegiate season is pretty special.”

According to Golfweek, the highly accomplished golfer boasts a No. 1 ranking to end his season. Kim’s consistency throughout the season with an unparalleled stroke average of 70.73 — the lowest in Cal history — ultimately led Kim to develop into this year’s top contender for the Haskins Award.

“This is further recognition of Michael’s tremendous season,” said Cal coach Steve Desimone. “I don’t think there’s anything question Michael has won this award, because they know he was the best player in college golf this year.”

Contact Janice Chua at jchua@dailycal.org.

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