Cal-Berkeley teammates Aaron Du and Sampson Zheng made it a wire-to-wire win at the 8th U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship at Kiawah Island in May.
Both 21-year-old seniors-to-be, Du and Zheng took the title after defeating Drew Kittleson and Drew Stoltz, 2 and 1, in the finals. The Golden Bears duo are the first No. 1 seeds to claim the championship, and the second consecutive co-medalists to hoist the trophy.
“For me it's history,” Zheng told the USGA. “Our names are going to go down forever in history. Fifty years, 100 years later when this tournament continues on, our names are going to be on [that trophy]. That's such an amazing thing to think about.”
Du and Zheng joined 2022 U.S. Junior Amateur champion Wenyi Ding as the only male golfers from the People’s Republic of China to claim a USGA title, and the fifth overall from the country following Fumi (Alice) Jo (2014 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links) and Lei Ye (2019 U.S. Girls’ Junior).
The two finished tied for medalist honors in stroke play qualifying with a championship-record tying score of 16-under 126 that included a record-tying second round 10-under 61 fueled by eight consecutive Du birdies on his own ball.
“There aren't too many champions from China at this level,” added Zheng, “so I really hope that this can inspire junior golfers in China to do the same in the future.”