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Bears Finish Seventh at Pac-12 Championship

Apr 28, 2021

SANTA ROSA, Calif. – California men's golf closed out the Pac-12 Men's Golf Championship on Wednesday, taking seventh place while freshman Aaron Du led the Bears with a seventh-place finish of his own.
 
Du posted a resilient final round, coming all the way back from four over par to one under which included a streak of four straight birdies to end the round.
 
"I had some unlucky breaks with the first two doubles today, but I just told myself to have faith and believe in the hard work I've put in this semester," Du said. "It was fun to finish with four birdies, but I was so in the moment that I didn't realize it until I walked off of 18."
 
Du finished with a total of 279 (-9) strokes and three of his four rounds were under par. Furthermore, he finished -3 on par 4s with an average score of 3.91 which was the second lowest in the 72-person field. He also amassed 21 birdies which was tied for the fourth most overall.
 
"I'm really proud of Aaron Du," Alex and Marie Shipman Director of Men's Golf Walter Chun said. "He was in contention to win at The Prestige, and for him to get over his nerves today shows how much he's developed and grown as a player these past two and a half months."
 
Junior James Song was the second finisher for the Bears after shooting a 69 (-3) on Wednesday for the second time this tournament. He finished with a total of 285 (-3) strokes which placed him in a tie for 22nd. Freshman Sampson Zheng came in two strokes behind Song with 287 (-1) overall. The Nagoya, Japan native shot a 75 (+3) in the final round and finished tied for 28th. Meanwhile, redshirt freshman Costas Panay tied for 32nd (288, E) with a 70 (-2) on Wednesday while senior Finigan Tilly delivered Cal's best round of the day (68, -4) to place 53rd.
 
"I'm really pleased with my team," Du said. "I can't thank them enough. I'm really proud to be a part of Cal golf and I can't wait for what's to come in the future."
 
The Bears will now await the NCAA Regionals selection show on May 5 which will determine whether their season will continue.
 
"I'm excited for the future with our freshmen playing so well," Chun said. "It was also great to see our upperclassmen in Finigan Tilly and James Song post low rounds when the freshmen were struggling. I'm happy for and proud of the guys for putting in the effort this year and the future is certainly bright."