Primed For Big Stage – California Golden Bears Athletics

Aaron Du (left), Sampson Zheng (center) and Tony Chen will compete in the 2023 U.S. Amateur Championship on Aug. 14-20.

MGOLF8/11/2023 1:19 PM | By: Cal Athletics

Current Cal Trio, Pair Of Alumni Among U.S. Amateur Field

DENVER – When it comes to amateur golf, there’s nothing quite like the United States Amateur Championship.
 
“It’s the one,” Alex and Marie Shipman Director of Men’s Golf Walter Chun said. “It’s the major championship of amateur golf.”
 
As a two-time qualifier for the U.S. Amateur during his Cal playing days in 1999 at Pebble Beach and 2002 at Oakland Hills Country Club, Chun would know. Organized by the United States Golf Association and held annually over a seven-day period, the U.S. Amateur is regarded as the country’s leading tournament for amateurs and has been won by the likes of Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, among others. Former Golden Bear Ben An won the 2009 U.S. Amateur at 17 one year prior to arriving in Berkeley.
 
Next week Chun will root for three of his veteran golfers – seniors Aaron Du and Sampson Zheng and redshirt junior Tony Chen, all of whom are roommates – experience the big stage at Cherry Hills Golf Club and Colorado Golf Club, both located just outside of Denver. Two Cal alumni, Michael Jensen ’09 and Stephen Hale ’11, also qualified for the championship and will join in the pursuit of the Havemeyer Trophy and the benefits that come from winning the U.S. Amateur.
 
The U.S. Amateur champion not only receives exemption from qualifying for the next 10 U.S. Amateurs, but earns exemption to the 2024 U.S. Open, 2024 Open Championship and likely an invitation into the 2024 Masters Tournament.
 
“The U.S. Amateur means a lot,” said Du, who advanced through stroke play to the round of 64 in the 2020 U.S. Amateur, the summer prior to his freshman year at Cal. “But you have to treat it just like any other tournament; you have to prepare to the fullest. My game is feeling good and I’m ready to compete.”
 
Du and Zheng punched their tickets to the U.S. Amateur early this summer. Just one week after Cal narrowly missed qualifying for the NCAA Championships with a sixth-place finish at the Morgan Hill Regional on May 17, the duo capped an impressive five-day stretch at Kiawah Island Club in South Carolina by…