A tough stretch of golf over the finishing holes of second-round action Saturday dropped California (292-301 593, +17) four spots into a seventh-place tie after the first two rounds of the NCAA Championships being hosted Arkansas. One day after shooting an opening round of two-over at the par-72, 7550-yard Blessings Golf Club that was tied for the third best of day, the Golden Bears' 13-over par round Saturday was better than only six of the other 29 teams in the field.
First-round leader Collin Morikawa (67-72 139, -5) played well enough Saturday to stay in the mix for individual medalist honors with an even-par second round that left him one stroke behind 36-hole leader Austin Eckroat (69-69 138, -6) and tied with Matthew Wolff (73-66 139, -5), both of top-seeded Oklahoma State. The individual champion will be crowned at the conclusion of 72 holes of stroke play Monday.
Cal started strong Saturday and was two-under par for the day after six holes after all four of its scoring players birdied the par-five 15th, but the same foursome would go 15-over par and tally only five birdies over the remaining 12 holes.
"I told the guys after the round that obviously it was a tough finish today but their great round yesterday keeps us alive," head coach Walter Chun said. "They have to keep in mind that the stroke-play part of this event is a qualifier. We are just trying to get into the top eight. Obviously, the higher the better but they have to keep that in their mind. I wanted to reiterate that yesterday's round was a great round. It put us in a position to make some mistakes like we did today."
"We have another round to go Sunday, and we're capable of playing a lot better than we did today," Chun continued. "It's survival. We're just trying to live to fight another day and hopefully move on to match play."
The top 15 teams at the end of 54 holes of stroke play Sunday advance to play another 18 holes Monday when GOLF Channel begins live television coverage of the event's final three days. The top eight teams after 72 holes of stroke play advance to match play with the quarterfinals and semifinals scheduled for Tuesday and the championship match Wednesday.
First-round leader Collin Morikawa (67-72 139, -5) played well enough Saturday to stay in the mix for individual medalist honors with an even-par second round that left him one stroke behind 36-hole leader Austin Eckroat (69-69 138, -6) and tied with Matthew Wolff (73-66 139, -5), both of top-seeded Oklahoma State. The individual champion will be crowned at the conclusion of 72 holes of stroke play Monday.
Cal started strong Saturday and was two-under par for the day after six holes after all four of its scoring players birdied the par-five 15th, but the same foursome would go 15-over par and tally only five birdies over the remaining 12 holes.
"I told the guys after the round that obviously it was a tough finish today but their great round yesterday keeps us alive," head coach Walter Chun said. "They have to keep in mind that the stroke-play part of this event is a qualifier. We are just trying to get into the top eight. Obviously, the higher the better but they have to keep that in their mind. I wanted to reiterate that yesterday's round was a great round. It put us in a position to make some mistakes like we did today."
"We have another round to go Sunday, and we're capable of playing a lot better than we did today," Chun continued. "It's survival. We're just trying to live to fight another day and hopefully move on to match play."
The top 15 teams at the end of 54 holes of stroke play Sunday advance to play another 18 holes Monday when GOLF Channel begins live television coverage of the event's final three days. The top eight teams after 72 holes of stroke play advance to match play with the quarterfinals and semifinals scheduled for Tuesday and the championship match Wednesday.