Cal's winning team (Cal Athletics photo)
LAHAINA, Hawaii (Nov. 4, 2018) – California held onto its second-round lead to win the Ka’anapali Classic on Sunday. The Bears ended the event at a remarkable 47 under par after going 20 under on the final day at Ka’anapali Golf Course.
Cal got a boost from redshirt senior Sebastian Crampton, who won the individual title at 17 under after rounds of 66-67-63. It’s his second career title but the first time he has won outright. His 17-under par total tied the 54-hole school record set earlier this year by Collin Morikawa at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational while his eight-under par round Sunday tied his career-low.
For his part, Morikawa was third at 14 under (66-70-63), which is his fourth consecutive top-5 finish.
Rounds of 63 from its two top players on Sunday made all the difference for Cal.
"I'm so proud of this team," Cal head coach Walter Chun said. "It's been an up-and-down fall season but to finish it with a win validates all their hard work. We started off slow today, and North Florida had made birdies and passed us. But the guys stayed patient and just went lights out on the back nine. To have one player shoot 63 in a final round is huge, but to have both Sebastian and Collin do it is a testament to their character and just how much they wanted it for the team."
Crampton put together two tremendous stretches of golf during his final round, going birdie-birdie-eagle on the par-4 fifth, par-5 sixth and par-4 seventh on his front nine before a birdie-birdie-birdie-eagle run on Nos. 11-14 on the back. Crampton was 9-under par for the round before a bogey on the par-4 18th.
"I played solid golf all week," Crampton said. "I did a great job of staying patient and not forcing the birdies to come during my final round. The final round was extremely important for us because we have not played our best in final rounds this fall. Obviously we found something today, and we're going to take a lot of confidence into the spring and beyond."
California withstood a hard charge from North Florida on Saturday when the Ospreys had an 18-under 266. North Florida finished an eventual second at 36 under.
Oklahoma was the team pushing on Sunday. The Sooners matched Cal’s 20-under 264 in the final round, but couldn’t come back from a slow start to the weekend. Oklahoma was third at 35 under.
Information from Cal Athletics used in this report
ABOUT THE
Kaanapali Collegiate
54-hole team and individual college tournament hosted
by the University of Hawaii and the Ka'anapali Beach
Resort.
View Complete Tournament Information