Cal men's golf

Cal found much needed success in San Diego. Cal’s director of men’s golf Walter Chun uses old stats to highlight the importance of par fives.

The Bears’ focus in the Lamkin San Diego Classic is to start strong and break their habit of poor first rounds. San Diego is home to four of Cal’s golfers.

Cal men’s golf, Cal golf, Jamie Cheatham, Finigan Tilly, Kaiwan Liu, James Song, Kento Yamawaki, Collin Morikawa, Cabo Collegiate, Pac-12 golf, golf

As of Nov. 11, four high school seniors have signed national letters of intent to join the Cal men’s golf team starting August 2019. A particular focus for the team was recruiting golfers who excelled in their schoolwork as well as in their golf.

The Ka’anapali Classic was the turning point of the fall season. For the first time, the Bears had a complete lineup with freshman James Song, redshirt junior Jamie Cheatham, redshirt senior K.K. Limbhasut, Crampton and Morikawa.

A strong finish by all five Cal golfers, including Song who had the top finish of his career at 18th and Limbhasut who finished 11th, secured Cal the much-anticipated victory to close out the fall campaign.

With all of the members of last year’s team returning, in addition to some new talent, Cal is looking to contend for a title at the Ka’anapali Classic in Maui this weekend.

Cal began the tournament ranked No. 26 by Golfstat, behind seven of its opponents at the Tavistock Invitational, a tournament known for its competitive field. Still, the Bears managed to pull out some strong rounds and challenge their higher-ranked competitors, especially early in the tournament.

In last year’s event, the Bears came back on the final day of the tournament to gain 10 strokes on their opponents, propelling them to a one-stroke victory over Florida and Illinois. Both teams are back to the tournament to exact their revenge, but Cal is prepared to take them on.