Cal’s Ethan Fang Co-Leader After Day 1 Of Pac-12 Championship

Photo credit: David Venezia (PAC-12 Conference)

California freshman Ethan Fang shot a 1-under-par 70 in the second round of the Pac-12 Men’s Golf Championship and owns a share of the individual lead after the tournament’s opening day at Desert Forest Golf Club.

 Cal (368-370 – 738, +28) was one of six teams in the field to finish the scheduled 36 holes Friday before play was suspended at 6:37 p.m. PT due to lightning in the area. The other half of the field yet to finish the second round – including first-place Washington (+13) and second-place Oregon (+21) – will complete the round at 8:30 a.m. PT Saturday before the third round begins at 10:30 a.m. PT.

The Golden Bears are in fifth place, just seven shots behind the second-place Ducks, with 36 holes left to play across Saturday and Sunday.

Fang, who has three top-10 finishes in six events played this spring, is in a three-way tie for first place with Arizona State’s Wenyi Ding and Stanford’s Michael Thorbjornsen. He shot an even-par 71 in the first round before carding the Golden Bears’ lone under-par round of the day with his second-round 70. The freshman birdied holes 14, 16 and 17 for a scorching opening nine of the second round – the Golden Bears started on hole 10 – and was able to rebound from three bogeys on the front nine with a fourth birdie on 9.

Fellow freshman Eric Lee (+6) is tied for 17th after a pair of 74s while Jeewon Park (+7) – who was inside the top 10 alongside Fang following a first-round 71 – is tied for 23rd. Sampson Zheng (+9) and Aaron Du (+10) are tied for 31st and 39th, respectively.