This isn’t basketball, but the phrase “one and done” still applies. The Cal men’s golf team will either end their season or extend it just a bit further this week in Bremerton, Wash.

The Bears are visiting the University of Washington for the NCAA Western Regional, and a top-10 finish there will advance the team to the national championship tournament in Indiana at the end of the month.

The Bears have the No. 17 seed out of 27 teams, not too bad considering their rough fall campaign. The competition’s very familiar: No. 3 ranked USC has the top seed, followed by the two-seed UCLA and the four-seed Stanford. In fact, Arizona and Washington State are the only Pac-10 schools that didn’t make the event. Sure makes Cal’s third place finish in the Pac-10 Championships look even better.

The Cal lineup should be familiar by now: George Gandranata, Evan Derian, Stephen Hale, Brandon Beck, and Eric Mina. Gandranata’s coming off a third place finish in the Pac-10s, and he and Beck will bring some much-needed experience to the Cal five. Coach Desimone stressed how difficult it is for rookies to handle the balance between postseason play and finals so it’ll be interesting to see how Hale and Mina, both freshmen, do in their first postseason tourney.

All teams get a practice round on the course on Wednesday before the actual tournament starts on Thursday. The 54-hole tournament will be played over the course of May 15-17 with 18 holes being played per day. Per usual, ol’ trusty Golfstat will provide live scoring.

So how are Cal’s chances looking? Better than you’d think. They may be ranked No. 42 nationally, but course knowledge can’t be undervalued at this stage in the game and that’s something the Bears have. Cal played a tournament at the Gold Mountain Golf Club in the fall and, in a sport where courses can vary drastically from tournament to tournament, that added familiarity is a real advantage. It’s a tough field, but anyone would be amiss to count out the scrappy Bears.

Check back here for more updates as the tournament unfolds…

Popularity: 67%