Cal Men's Golf alumni and LA natives, Homa and Morikawa, are favorites at U.S. Open

Cal Men's Golf rising seniors Du and Zheng won U.S. Amateur Four-Ball title

You may or may not be aware that we are in a Golden Age for Cal Golf.

Sure, Cal Men’s Golf fell short of advancing out of the NCAA Regional, but that talented (but somewhat underachieving) group is about to add the No.1 recruiting class in the country. A class that cites Cal alumni success at the PGA level for them picking Berkeley.

That PGA success might take another major leap forward if a Cal alumnus can win the Major Championship which is the 123rd U.S. Open, to be played in Los Angeles at the Los Angeles Country Club (LACC) for the first time ever this week.

The rarity of LACC in hosting PGA events may be an advantage to the Cal alumni. As pointed out numerous times in interviews, including on SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt on Wednesday night, leading up to the first tee shot, Cal alumnus Max Homa has the course record of 9-under 61 at LACC, set during the Pac-12 Championships back in 2013 (LACC is a stone’s throw from the UCLA campus). Following that performance, Homa won the NCAA individual title leading a record-breaking Cal squad that dominated the stroke play portion of the NCAA Championships but faltered in the match play portion. Fellow Cal teammate and one of the last golfers to make the field this week, Michael Kim also got the experience of playing in that event. Kim is a one-time PGA Tour champion in a very select group of only four Cal alumni. Of course, the hole locations have changed, but that experience could still make a significant difference.

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For Collin Morikawa, LACC was the site of the 2017 Walker Cup (the Amateur version of the Ryder Cup pitting USA vs. European golfers) where he had plenty of success in helping USA to win that trophy. Slightly concern for Morikawa, a fellow Los Angeles native like Homa, is that he had to pull out of his last event two weekends ago in Ohio despite being in a logjam atop the standings going into the final round. Morikawa says that his back is better, but also is changing his swing a little bit as a precaution.

“I think we do so much leaning with our back, bending over, that I've just built in bad movement patterns, and for me, it's being able to just make sure I bend properly from the hip, rather than putting too much stress,” Morikawa said. “It's just going to be precautionary with how I'm moving this week, but swing-wise there's no pain, which is great. I've hit out of rough, I've hit out of bunkers, no pain, nothing lingering anywhere else in the body either, so that's good.”

The two Cal alumni will play alongside Morikawa's Walker Cup teammate Scottie Scheffler in one of the featured groups for Rounds 1 and 2 on Thursday and Friday.

Morikawa, the winner of two golf majors already in his short pro career, is seeking a first PGA Tour win in over a year. Homa, who overtook Morikawa for the most PGA Tour wins by Cal alumni during that drought, is notorious for winning events in the state of California with 4 of his 6 wins taking place within the Golden State. Max Homa does not have the track record of contending at the majors yet, but is currently ranked 7th in the world.

In the interviews, both Homa and Morikawa also shared their thoughts on the shocking merger between the PGA Tour and LIV. Morikawa was rumored to have had an offer from the Saudis to join LIV but opted to stay with the PGA Tour. The PGA Tour in the meantime also made a lot of changes to their schedule to force all of their top players to play some elevated marquee events, drawing the ire of other Call alumni on the tour such as James Hahn (the 1st Cal winner ever on the PGA Tour who is still active) and Michael Kim. It is a volatile time in professional golf, but it is not too surprising to see how all the Cal PGA golfers have had thoughtful responses to the changes both on and off the greens.

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As for the current Cal Bears, history was made a few weeks ago as the Cal duo of Aaron Du and Sampson Zheng won the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship at Kiawah Island, South Carolina.

The victory came a week after the Golden Bears missed advancing to the NCAA championship by three shots. Du and Zheng, both rising seniors from China, became the first No. 1 seed to win the title. They are also the second and third Cal golfers to hoist a USGA trophy. Byeong-hun (Ben) An, who attended Cal for one year (2010-11), won the 2009 U.S. Amateur at 17 a year prior to coming to Berkeley.

“For me it's history,” said Zheng. “Our names are going to go down forever in history. Fifty years, 100 years later when this tournament continues on, our names are going to be on [that trophy]. That's such an amazing thing to think about.”

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The pair took control in the 11th hole and did not look back en route to a 2-and-1 victory over Drew Kittleson and Drew Stoltz in the 18-hole final at Cassique.

Zheng has since added the experience of playing in the Arnold Palmer Cup last week where he even made a hole-in-one.

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With Du and Zheng back for their senior season, Cal Men's Golf should be even stronger with the No.1 ranked class joining them. Four talented golfers, including Eric Lee, are coming to Berkeley.

[Cal Men’s Golf head coach] Walter Chun might’ve just landed arguably his best recruiting class as head men’s golf coach at Cal, signing four players, including Eric Lee, this year’s AJGA Rolex Junior Player of the Year. But Chun is taking zero credit.

“This is the Max Homa and Collin Morikawa affect,” Chun said. “They were both a little under the radar as junior golfers, but they blossomed in college. Guys get better when they come to Cal, and those guys are proof.”

https://www.golfchannel.com/video/ajga-player-year-eric-lee-picks-university-california-berkeley

Eric Lee (Fullerton, CA) will be joined by Sihao Cong (Irvine, Calif.), Ethan Fang (Plano, Texas), and Tyler Lee (Franklin Lakes, N.J.). Golfweek has Eric Lee and Fang as the No.1 and No.3 ranked recruits of this class, respectively.

The immediate future for the program is bright, but let's see if the namesakes of two endowed scholarships, that is Max Homa and Collin Morikawa in case there are any doubts, will add to their golf legacy this weekend.

GO BEARS!