NCAA's: Slow Play Penalty Assessed After Hour-Long Detention!

Ryan Herrington reports on the slow play detention session for Cal's Max Homa, Alabama's Scott Strohmeyer and UCLA's Jonathan Gerrick that resulted in Gerrick being assessed a one-stroke penalty after an hour of discussion.

I'm all for slow play crackdowns, but an hour to give one player a shot penalty?

"You sit there and they actually grill you pretty good," said Alabama coach Jay Seawell about the interview process to determine whether a penalty is warranted. "You feel like you're in a Turkish prison."

"I don't know what a Turkish prison is like," Homa noted after his meeting. "But i felt like I was in detention. They had me sit out side and told me to wait with Strohmeyer. It wasn't fun. I wouldn't wish it on anybody."

Turkish prison? Joey...

Cal Kicks Off NCAA Finals Play...

Janie McCauley doesn't break any new ground on the amazing story that is Cal golf but she does review all of the essential elements that make them an underdog program heading into the NCAA finals Tuesday in Georgia.

Cal has won 11 of 13 in 2012-13. And as Ryan Lavner notes, they head into the finals with a season record of 173-3-1 and up over 6000 shots on fields this year.

The top-ranked California men's golf team has no home course to call its own, typically shuttling among seven or eight local spots. Most of the Golden Bears were passed on by the elite college golf programs.

Still, Cal is favored to win the NCAA championships beginning Tuesday in Georgia — quite an accomplishment for the record-setting program that operates without any financial help from the university. The golf team has an annual budget of about $600,000.

Golfweek has all of the coverage, including this Twitter feed of players and coaches. And Lance Ringler reminds us that with the match play format, the dynamics of the NCAA are different than what teams see most of the year.

You can follow scores here.

Cal Men Set School Record With 23-Under Day

This is just getting silly with Cal's men's team, winners of 10 of 12 2013 events.

Now they've opened up the NCAA Men's regionals by firing a school record 23-under day in Pullman with two rounds to go.

Sean Martin reports.

Cal's round set the school record for lowest 18-hole team score and lowest team round in relation to par. "Any time you set a school record, it feels pretty good," head coach Steve Desimone said. "I guess it should be no surprise it was this team that did it."

Pac 12 Championship: Cal Men Win 10th Tournament!

Cal held off UCLA to win the 2013 Pac 12 Championship by nine strokes. The win unofficially ties them with the 1985-86 Oklahoma State squad for most victories in a season by a college golf team, with two events to go.

Cal Senior Max Homa's 9-under 271 held off teammate and U.S. Amateur runner-up Michael Weaver by five strokes. After the round, host club Los Angeles Country Club presented Homa with a framed lithograph that included a plaque commemorating his opening round and course record 61.

A few images from the day:

UCLA Closing In On Cal As L.A. North Bites Back

Thanks to some stellar play under difficult conditions, the lucky few taking in round three of the Pac 12 Mens Golf Championships were treated to some fantastic golf. While the scores didn't quite match the incredible opening day scoring, the precision play inspired by U.S. Open greens (almost 14 on the Stimp, extremely firm) and George Thomas and Billy Bell's architecture revealed the level of talent in the Pac 12.

I'll leave the summary to the Pac 12's website where you can also see scores and a photo gallery. Also, Golfstat has the individual and team leaderboards.

Instead, a few random observations from L.A. North prior to final round play.

-- I spent most of the morning watching Stanford's Patrick Rodgers and the afternoon following Cal's Max Homa, UCLA's Jonathan Garrick and Washington's Chris Williams. All impressed with their swings, attitudes, precision and short game while playing the course intelligently...other than the painful sight of their repeated rangefinder use.

--Ahhh yes, the rangefinder. What a waste of information on a course with firm greens where yardages to the flagstick mean so little. Which is probably why players still check sprinklers, yardage books or simply walk the numbers off if they are within 80 yards of the green. Speed up play?  Rangefinders, they do not.

-- The aforementioned players and many others I saw from various Pac 12 schools are placing the ball in unfathomable locations off the tee. That would be my nice way of saying they hit the ball absurd distances. The next time I hear the governing bodies insist driving distances have peaked, I now have photographs of young lads in fairway landing areas so far beyond what hazards that even they might have a hard time justifying their decade long indifference to the obvious. Peter Dawson recently said on anchoring, better late than never!

--UCLA trails by two strokes. UCLA's Pontus Widegren was penalized two shots in a second round 75 for just barely missing his afternoon tee time after he was changing to the prescribed second round UCLA team shirt. Because the first round was running long, Widegren only had a few minutes to change.

I'm not sure how quickly I'll get to post round 4 observations and photos, so here's a big gallery from the first two days:

No. 8: Cal Men Do It Again!

From an unbylined Golfweek.com report on Cal Men's golf winning their eighth tournament this season, a ridiculous tally with several weeks to go in the spring.

This is just unfair:

Cal headed into the final round with an 11-shot lead by shooting the low team scores during the first- and second-round. On the final day, they shot 3 over.

All five Cal players finished in the top 12.

Sean Martin profiled the program earlier this year and revealed some of the keys to their epic run.