An important record was broken by the blue and gold by Cal sophomore Mika Jin. The Bears placed eighth overall in an 11-team invitational while Stanford took the win at 50-under par.
Jin came back from a wrist injury, which seemingly had no effect on her spring debut. The sophomore tied for seventh place along with Washington’s Stefanie Deng. In the second round of the Gunrock Invitational on March 1, Jin was able to do something that had not been done by the women’s golf team in three seasons: shoot five-under 67 in a round. This was also a personal shooting record for Jin. However, a player’s success does not always lead to overall team success, as clearly seen by the performance of Jin in contrast to the overall performance of Cal.
The 2022 Gunrock Invitational took place in Sacramento beginning Feb. 28 and ending March 1. There were a total of 11 teams at the par-72 course at the Del Paso Country Club.
Cal fans can now only reminisce on the results of the Gunrock Invitational two years prior, at which the Bears won. The blue and gold began their first round Feb. 28 looking somewhat promising, placing fourth out of 11 teams.
In the final standings, there were four ties for 31st place, two of which were Bears — Katherine Zhu and Cristina Ochoa. Zhu’s 31st place is notable since this is the same invitational where she won first place in 2020.
The improvement of Cal at this invitational is put to question when comparing its 12th-place finish out of 14 teams at the Lamkin Invitational in San Diego two weeks ago. Now, the Bears are scheduled to participate in the Juli Inkster Invitational at Meadow Club next week.
It seems as if the expectations had been higher for the Bears from their fans due to their past performance at the Gunrock Invitational. However, some results cannot be repeated or matched. A highlight of this invitational was record-breaking shooting by Jin, but the Bears will certainly strive for better team results. Eighth place out of 11 at five-over par is not medalworthy, as seen at this invitational.
