Cal Poly Invitational: California, Tony Chen complete the sweep

October 31, 2023 | by Justin Golba of AmateurGolf.com

Tony Chen (Cal Athletics Photo)

Chen shot a final round 7-under 65 to best Omar Morales of UCLA by one shot.

The California Golden Bears won its second straight tournament after winning the second annual Cal Poly Invitational at the Preserve Golf Club in Carmel, Calif.

The Golden Bears finished 21-under, five shots clear of UCLA and Northwestern, who finished T2 at 16-under.

Oregon finished in fourth place at 12-under, and Duke finished in fifth place at 9-under. 2022 champions Ohio State finished T6 at 6-under with Colorado State.

The victory capped a fall for the Golden Bears that included top three finishes in all four stroke-play tournaments, including the back-to-back wins at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational on Oct. 9-10 and the Cal Poly Invitational this week.

Cal found itself in 11th place after a first-round 290 but shot up the leaderboard with a second-round 277 that spanned both Monday and Tuesday. Tony Chen carded a bogey-free 6-under 66 in the second round, while Ethan Chung posted a 5-under 67 in the same span to lead the charge.

Chen started the tournament slow with a first-round 75 but shot a 7-under 65 with eight birdies across the round. The Golden Bear climbed 15 individual spots over the final 18 holes to beat out Omar Morales of UCLA for the individual title. Morales finished one shot back at 9-under.

Chen is Cal’s second individual medalist of the season, joining freshman Eric Lee, who won co-medalist honors in his collegiate debut at the Marquette Intercollegiate.

Alexandre Vandermoten of Jacksonville, Gregory Solhaug of Oregon, and Luke Powell of UCLA finished T3 at 8-under.

Results: Cal Poly Invitational

Place	Player	Location	Pts	Scores
1	Kuangyu (Tony) Chen	, China	600	75-66-65=206
2	Omar Morales	, Mexico	400	70-68-69=207
T3	Alexandre Vandermoten	, France	300	73-67-68=208
T3	Gregory Solhaug	, Norway	300	70-68-70=208
T3	Luke Powell	Laguna Niguel, CA	300	70-66-72=208