California punched its ticket to the NCAA Men’s Golf Championship for the second straight season with a fifth-place finish in the Reno Regional at Montreux Golf & Country Club on Wednesday.
The Golden Bears polished off an impressive 36-hole comeback with a 4-under-par 284 in the final round to finish at 9-over-par 857 for the tournament. Cal found itself in 12th place in the 14-team field after carding a 20-over-par 308 in the first round but rebounded by shooting 11-under across the final 36 holes to clinch its spot in college golf’s ultimate stage.
Cal (+9) joined champion BYU (-15), Virginia (-11), Texas (-8) and San Diego (+8) in advancing through the Reno Regional to the NCAA Championship, which will be played at Omni La Costa in Carlsbad on May 23-28.
“(Assistant coach) Peter Ireland and I are so proud of these guys,” Alex and Marie Shipman Director of Men’s Golf Michael Wilson said. “It was a total team effort and an incredible effort by all. To be 20-over-par in the first round and in 12th place out of 14 teams, and then battle back through the wind, snow and frost delays to advance is as resilient as it gets. The Bear will not quit, though. The Bear will not die. We can’t wait to get down to La Costa.”
Wednesday started with the Bears in fifth place and 13-14 holes through the second round – play was suspended due to darkness on Tuesday – but they slipped back into eighth by the end of the round, carding seven bogeys collectively over their final six holes.
The struggles didn’t last long though, as Daniel Heo eagled hole 13 and Charlie Berridge and Ziqin (Eric) Zhou birdied holes 12 and 13, respectively, to start the third round. Zhou (+1) and Berridge (+1) ended the tournament tied for 17th to lead Cal while Heo (+3) tied for 25th.
With roughly 8-10 holes remaining, the Bears found themselves battling San Diego and Mississippi State for the fourth and fifth spots. As the Bulldogs (+16) slipped down the leaderboard with a 16-over-par third round – they started the final 18 holes tied for third place – Cal held steady. All five Bears notched a birdie on the par 5 fifth hole to highlight a collective 2-under front nine holes. They ultimately finished the round seven shots ahead of Mississippi State to clinch an NCAA Championship berth.
TEAM LEADERBOARD (TOP 5)
| Place | Team | To Par | R1 | R2 | R3 | Total |
| 1 | BYU | -15 | 291 | 275 | 2383 | 849 |
| 2 | Virginia | -11 | 286 | 288 | 279 | 853 |
| 3 | Texas | -8 | 292 | 284 | 280 | 856 |
| 4 | San Diego | +8 | 295 | 293 | 284 | 872 |
| 5 | California | +9 | 308 | 281 | 284 | 873 |
CAL ON INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD
| Place | Name | To Par | R1 | R2 | R3 | Total |
| T17 | Ziqin (Eric) Zhou | +1 | 76 | 72 | 69 | 217 |
| T17 | Charlie Berridge | +1 | 76 | 70 | 71 | 217 |
| T25 | Daniel Heo | +3 | 79 | 69 | 71 | 219 |
| T47 | Sihao Cong | +10 | 77 | 76 | 73 | 226 |
| 70 | Kuangyu (Tony) Chen | — | — | 70 | 75 | 145 |
| — | Wenliang Xie | — | 86 | — | — | 86 |
NEXT UP
The 2025 NCAA Men’s Golf Championship starts May 23 at Omni La Costa in Carlsbad.