Bears Climb Leaderboard At NCAAs

CARLSBAD – Freshman Eric Lee carded California's first under-par round of the 2024 NCAA Men's Golf Championships with a 2-under-par 70 and the Golden Bears climbed the leaderboard into 16th place on the second day of action at Omni La Costa's North Course.
 
Cal improved upon its first-round score by eight strokes with an 8-over-par 296 on Tuesday, and, despite entering the clubhouse in 26th place at the end of the second round's morning wave, found itself within striking distance of the top half of the field by the end of the day. The Bears (304-296 – 600, +24) are just two shots behind 15th-place Stanford (+22) after 36 holes; the top half of the 30-team field after 54 holes advance to the fourth and final round of stroke play.
 
Lee (+5) got hot in the middle of the second round, tallying four birdies in a six-hole span between holes 6-11. The performance helped Lee, who is tied for 40th, jump 85 spots on the individual leaderboard after struggling through a first-round 79 on Friday. Senior Sampson Zheng (+5) faltered down the stretch of the second round and is tied with Lee in 40th after 36 holes of play. Zheng birdied hole 2 and moved into the top 10 individually, but proceeded to card bogeys on six of his final 12 holes – including five in a six-hole span between 7-12 – on the way to a 5-over-par 77.
 
Kuangyu (Tony) Chen (+11) posted Cal's second-best round of the day with a 1-over-par 73. It was a bounce-back effort for the redshirt junior after shooting 82 on Friday.
 
TEAM LEADERBOARD

 
CAL ON INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD

 
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Cal will start the third round of the NCAA Championships on the 10th tee between 12-12:44 p.m. PT Sunday alongside Notre Dame (+25) and Wake Forest (+26).
 
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