Zheng won a share of the title at the Burns Intercollegiate

Brandon Vallance/klcfotos

Sampson Zheng shot 18-under par over 54 holes to earn second medalist honors at the John A. Burns Intercollegiate.

MGOLF17/02/2023 22:44 | Posted by: Cal Athletics

The Golden Bear earns second medalist honors, Cal rallies, placing fourth in Kaua?i

LIHU’E, Hawaii – Sampson Zheng sank three birdies and an Eagle over the final six holes and roared back to claim a share of the individual title at the 2023 John A. Burns Intercollegiate on Friday at the Ocean Course in Hokuala. Zheng, who carded a college-level 65 twice in as many days en route to an 18-under par finish (65-68-65 to 198), shared the individual medalist honors with Texas A&M’s Sam Bennett.

Tournament judges declared Zheng and Bennett co-champions due to insufficient daylight for the playoffs and inclement weather on Saturday.

Zheng’s career performance moved Cal to fourth in the team standings, behind only tournament champion BYU (-54), No. 19 Arizona (-36) and No. 9 Texas A&M (-32). The Golden Bears (277-288-272 – 837) finished 27 under and used a 272 to move up three spots in the leaderboard in the third round.

Zheng’s share of the individual title — the first of her collegiate career — made it two consecutive years that a Golden Bear has finished as a medalist at the Burns Intercollegiate, as Aaron you won the championship outright in 2022. Cal now has six all-time individual medalists at the Burns Intercollegiate, and New Mexico is the most earned in tournament history.

After shooting a first-round 65 and even a par through the first 10 holes of the second round before play was suspended due to darkness on Thursday, Zheng was right back on Friday. The junior birdied four of the remaining eight holes in the second round and easily rolled into the final 18. He birdied four consecutive holes between 10 and 13 at one point. With three holes to go and two shots out of the lead, Zheng picked up a critical Eagle on hole 4 to move into a four-way tie for first place. After Bennett moved to 18 with a birdie on the 18th hole, Zheng responded with one of his own on the 6th hole to secure a share of the championship.

While Zheng was the engine behind Cal’s third-round climb up the leaderboard, the redshirt junior Costas Panay impressed with a 5-under 67. Panay (71-75-67 – 213) finished 38th in the tournament at 3-under. Ethan Chungwho played as an individual, carded Cal’s second-lowest 54-hole score at 211 (70-73-68) and tied for 26th.

Cal’s third-round 272 was its lowest 18-hole score of the season.

team leaderboard

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