Golf World Monday - August 20, 2012

02future looks bright for cal

since first coaching the california men’s golf team in 1979, steve desimone has followed a golden (bear) rule: don’t worry if others underestimate your team’s talent. surprising your foes can be rewarding, à la the 2004 ncaa championship when desimone’s charges “came from nowhere” to win. too bad for coach des, this strategy isn’t going to fly when the 2012-13 college season begins. too many people watched last week’s u.s. amateur not to notice how it seemingly turned into a berkeley intrasquad practice. five bears—michael weaver (shown), brandon hagy, max homa, michael kim and walter huddy— competed at cherry hills, all but huddy advancing to match play. weaver and hagy nearly became the first college teammates to face off in a usga final, hagy falling in the semifinals to steven fox before weaver lost to him in the sunday final. “i heard hagy describe it best,” desimone said. “there aren’t any real stars on our team, but they all have the ability to step up and play really well.” everybody returns from the 2011-12 squad that won six times, including the pac- 12 title, and reached the ncaa semifinals, plus the u.s. amateur runner-up is back after redshirting last year to be able to enroll in cal’s business school. bottom line: there will be no going under the radar for desimone in the near future. —R.H.