No. 18 Cal rallied from nine back on Tuesday to win
(Cal Athletics Photo)
WINDERMERE, FL (October 24, 2017) - Nine-strokes back at the beginning of the day No. 18 California rallied to win the Tavistock Collegiate Intercollegiate. After finishing last in the event one year ago Cal closed with a 4-under final day to finish 6-under and the winner by one-stroke over the leader after each of the first two rounds Illinois and No. 10 Florida.
"This is definitely the biggest win for the team the three years I have been here," Bears junior Collin Morikawa said. "To come back from that many shots behind at the start of the day shows what our team can accomplish."
The victory for Cal was their second straight after they won their own Alister MacKenzie Invitational for their first win in almost two years.
Cal was led during their final round charge by Morikawa who fired a 6-under 66 that included seven birdies and one bogey. Morikawa, 9-under overall and the runner-up, exploded out of the gates with birdies on the first three holes before adding additional birdies on Nos. 6, 12, 13 and 17 while bogeying only the 5th.
Helping push Cal over the top were K.K. Limbhasut (T17; -1) who shot an even-par 72 and Kaiwen Liu (T31; +4) and Sebastian Crampton (T44; +6) who shot 1-over 73's.
Trailing Illinois by two-strokes and on the 17th hole Cal took the lead over for good thanks to birdies from Morikawa and Crampton while the Fighting Illini struggled on the hole playing it in four-over.
"It wasn't over until everyone finished out and every shot definitely counted today," Morikawa, the 2017 Northeast Amateur champion, said. "I'm really proud of everyone on the team. It was a team effort. Everyone contributed throughout the week and we knew if we played well today we would be able to put some pressure on Illinois and Florida."
Although Illinois did come up short in the team chase they did capture an individual title with Dylan Meyer, 11-under, claiming the crown. The win was the first of Meyer's senior season.
After rounds of 67-66 Meyer finished with an even-par 72. Meyer was playing well on Tuesday with three birdies and no bogeys during the first 15-hole but he did slip up with a bogey, double-bogey stretch on Nos. 16 and 17 that hurt Illinois in the team race.
The top-five of the medalist race was rounded out by Florida teammates John Axelsen (3rd; -7) and Gordon Neale (4th; -6) in third and fourth while in fifth it was Mason Andersen (5th; -5) of Arkansas.
Completing the top-five of the team standings were No. 9 Vanderbilt (-3) in fourth and No. 7 Auburn (E) in fifth.
Editors Note: California Athletics contributed to this story
ABOUT THE Isleworth Collegiate Invitational
54 hole men's college tournament co-hosted by
the University of Central Florida and West Virginia
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