Ziqin Zhou achieved what no Cal golfer since Collin Morikawa has done.
A sophomore from the Chinese city of Shenzhen, Zhou won the ACC Championship on Saturday, beating two others in a playoff to become the Bears’ first conference champ since Morikawa in 2019.
Morikawa, now 29, a two-time major winner and the world’s sixth-ranked player, captured the Pac-12 title that season.
Zhou became Cal’s first ACC golf winner in the school’s second year in the conference.
Zhou shot a final-round 2-under 70 — including a clutch birdie on the 19th hole — at Shark’s Tooth Golf Club at Panama City, Fla., giving him a three-day total of 8-under 208 and forcing the three-way playoff.
He tied with Stanford’s Eden Cui and Duke’s Ethan Evans after 54 holes, then won a two-hole playoff, aided by a birdie on the first hole.
Zhou became just the fourth Cal golfer to win an individual conference championship.
“He’s worked so hard these past two years and pulled out a really gritty win today,” Cal coach Michael Wilson said. “He started two-over through two holes, but battled back for a two-under-70 to force a three man playoff.
“His birdie on the first playoff hole will go down as a legendary putt in Cal golf to push the match. He then made a solid par on the second playoff hole to win. We’re all so incredibly happy for Ziqin!”
Zhou has been the Bears’ top performance all season, with a team-leading eight-event average of 69.91. He had four previous top-10 finishes this season, including a tie for second place at the Cabo Collegiate at Cabo San Lucas in Mexico in early March.
A year ago, as a freshman, his best finish was a tie for ninth place at the Arizona Thunderbirds Intercollegiate.
Redshirt junior Charlie Bundy finished at 5-over-par 221 and a tie for 36th place on Saturday. Freshman Trevor Cox and senior Daniel Heo each shot 6-over-par 222 to finish in a tie for 41st place.
The Bears finished 12th in the stroke play competition at 9-over. Stanford shot 20-under to win, beating runner-up Virginia by 16 strokes. Cal did not qualify for the three rounds of team match play on Sunday and Monday.
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