Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Stanford dominates "The Goodwin" led by Patrick Rodgers' 9th career win


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Team win honoring former Coach Wally Goodwin - click to enlarge
Final Results:
The Cardinal finished with a brilliant final round 14-under par 266 total, the low round of the event, to dominate the first Goodwin (previously named the US Intercollegiate) with a 20 shot victory.  The team and individual win was a fitting tribute to former great coach Wally Goodwin, for whom the event is named.

Stanford was led by the record-setting Patrick Rodgers who recorded his third straight individual win and the 9th of his incredible career, a total that puts him in sole possession of 2nd place all-time at Stanford behind only Tiger Woods who had 11 wins in his two seasons on the Farm.  Patrick set the tournament record 196 total (14 under par) on rounds of 63-69-64 to finish 6 strokes ahead of the 2nd place finisher, Rico Hoey from USC.  This record came despite playing in difficult rainy and windy conditions in round #2.  Stanford's team win was their third of the season.  Patrick's final round 64 included a one-stroke penalty he called on himself when his ball moved before putting at the 9th hole for his only bogey.

It's worth reviewing the Stanford Record Book to see where Patrick's season and career place him among the all-time greats at Stanford.  Also showing up now in the Stanford record book are the the individual 65s shot today by Cameron Wilson and Jim Liu - Cameron happens to be tied with Tiger Woods for the all-time low tournament low round of 61 in any event.  The team finishes and the top five teams with player scores are shown below - note that the Pac 12 had the top five teams in the event.
Final Team Results - click to enlarge
Final Team and individual results for top 5 teams - click to enlarge

Stanford's win was a great team effort as Cameron Wilson finished in 3rd place individually to continue his great season on rounds of 69-70-65 204, with his final 5-under round including 5 birdies and no bogeys.  Freshman Maverick McNealy had a great tournament as he tied for 4th overall on rounds of 66-69-70 205 while freshman Viraat Badhwar (who co-holds the Stanford course record of 61) finished strong with a final round 67 as he tied for 16th overall on rounds of 70-73-67 210.  David Boote struggled after his opening round to finish with 70-74-79 223.

Stanford's third freshman, Jim Liu, had a fine tournament playing as an individual as he tied for 28th on rounds of 71-77-65 213 - his final round 65 included 4 birdies and an eagle on 16 and only one bogey.  Also playing as individuals, Patrick Grimes tied for 61st on rounds of 73-74-73 220 and Dominic Francks tied for 73rd with his rounds of 76-75-72 223.

A final congratulations to Patrick Rodgers for winning his 4th event of the season which places him in solo 2nd place on the all-time Stanford single season career wins category, behind only Tiger Woods' 8 wins in the 1995-96 season.  Patrick's scorecards are included below.

Patrick Rodgers winning 3 scorecards - click to enlarge

Second Day Results:
Stanford expanded it's lead to 6 strokes over UCLA and 9 strokes over Oregon with a 281 second round total.  Washington in 4th place had the day's best score of 7-under 273, followed by UCLA's 2-under 278 to improve their positions.  The playing conditions were difficult when the Cardinal teed off as steady rains and swirling winds challenged the field.  Play was suspended at about 12:30 for more than an hour as many of the greens had ponding water.  After the suspension, players returned to light, intermittent rain and light winds and mid-50s temperatures.

Patrick Rodgers increased his individual lead to 3 strokes (63-69 132 1st) with his 1-under 69 that included a 18-foot birdie putt on the final hole.  In reviewing the Stanford record books, Patrick's first round 63 was the lowest tournament round ever at Stanford, besting Rob Grube's 64 when he won the US Intercollegiate in 2007 and Ass't Coach Phil Rowe's 64 when he won the US Intercollegiate in 2002.  Patrick's 2nd round included some clutch par putts on the back nine on 10 and 12 after a frustrating short miss on the 9th hole.  Birdies on #11 and 18 finished off a good round given the conditions.  Team and individual scores for the top 5 teams in included below.
Top 5 team and individual scores - click to enlarge

Maverick McNealy's round of 69 left him tied for 2nd overall (66-69 135 T2).  It was a pretty remarkable back nine of 34 despite a triple bogey on the short par 4 15th hole when his tee shot went out of bounds to the right.  At that point he was two-over on the back nine after his earlier birdie on 13 but Maverick bounced back strongly with birdies on 16, 17 and 18.  The birdie on the par 5 16th was routine with a long drive and long iron to the front of the green and two putts from there but the birdie on the 17th was nothing short of spectacular.  After pushing his tee shot into a horrible lie that seemed plugged in the deep grass, he hacked it out and watched it trickle into the hole from about 50 feet.  He followed that up with a 20 foot birdie putt on 18.

Cameron Wilson's steady even-par 70 left him tied for 12th individually (69-70 139 T12) and included a birdie on the tough 12th hole and a two putt birdie on 16 to offset a double bogey on #6.  Viraat Badhwar's 73 (70-73 143 T32) looked promising after an eagle on the par 5 7th from 20 feet put him 2-under on the day.  He struggled with the conditions from there though with bogies on the 9th and a double bogey on #10 and two more coming in for a back nine of 39.  David Boote's (70-74 144 T38) day started well with a birdie on #1 but a tough 10-hole stretch starting at the 3rd hole included two double bogeys and a bogey leading to his 74.

Playing as individuals, Patrick Grimes (3-74 147 T53), Jim Liu (71-77 148 T62) and Dominic Francks (76-75 151 T78) all struggled with the tough conditions.

Second round scorecards for the 5 team members are included below.
Round 2 scorecards - click to enlarge

First Day Results:
Stanford took the first day lead by 3 over St. Mary's and 5 over Oregon with a 12-under team total of 268 behind an exceptional 63 by Patrick Rodgers and a fine 66 by freshman Maverick McNealy.  The partly sunny weather began in the low fifties and ended in the mid-sixties with light winds so a good day for scoring.  Team scores are shown below.
Round 1 team scores - click to enlarge


“We’re excited about this start, but it’s a long tournament with a lot of golf left to be played,” said Conrad Ray, the Knowles Family Director of Men’s Golf. “The guys managed the ball well early in the round and we kept the momentum going. We’re hoping for good things tomorrow.”

Patrick's 7-under 63 put him two ahead in the individual competition as he had 8 birdies and a lone bogey.  The 63 was Patrick's lowest collegiate score (previously 65 was his low at the 2012 Pac-12 championship) and his round tied for the 4th lowest Stanford competitive round behind 61s by Tiger Woods and Cameron Wilson and a 62 by Notah Begay (in the 1994 NCAA championship).

Maverick put his local knowledge to work (he's a 3-time Stanford Club Champion) firing a 66 that included two eagles at the par five 1st and 7th holes and an near-eagle lip out on the par 5 16th.  Cameron's 69 included 4 birdies offset by 3 bogeys and David and Viraat checked in with 70s on the day.  Individual scorecards are included below.
Round 1 scorecards - click to enlarge
Playing as individuals Jim Liu had a 71, Patrick Grimes a 73 and Dominic Francks a 76.

Tournament Background by gostanford.com
The Goodwin
Friday-Sunday, March 28-30
Stanford Golf Course • Stanford, Calif.

On the Web • GoStanford.com
Live Results • Live results will be available via GoStanford.com
Cardinal Contingent • Patrick Rodgers, Cameron Wilson, David Boote, Viraat Badhwar, Maverick McNealy
Patrick Grimes (Ind.), Jim Liu (Ind.), Dominick Francks (Ind.)
Tee Times • Start time off #1 and #10 tees – Friday (8 a.m. PT), Saturday (8 a.m.), Sunday (8 a.m.)

The Tournament
• The event will span three days and features 54 holes of stroke play. Groups begin from holes 1 and 10. All players will be re-grouped before each round based on scores. For the purposes of tournament honors and awards, ties will be split per NCAA Championship tie-breaking procedures.

• Along with 17 teams from around the nation, the Stanford men’s golf team will compete in The Goodwin at Stanford Golf Course from March 28-30.

• Originally named the ‘United States Intercollegiate’, the event was renamed ‘The Goodwin’ prior to the 2014 edition in honor of former Cardinal head coach Wally Goodwin. Goodwin coached at Stanford from 1983-2000, highlighted by winning the 1994 national title. Goodwin was named national coach of the year in 1992 and 1994.

• Goodwin recruited and coached standouts such as Tiger Woods, Casey Martin, Notah Begay, current head coach Conrad Ray and Joel Kribel among many other stars from Stanford’s proud golfing tradition.

• Defending team champion Stanford has claimed 13 team victories and 13 individual titles at the event, the most of any program in each category. The Cardinal captured the first team and individual titles in 1968 during the inaugural year of the tournament.

• Stanford alumni who have won the event include Sandy Adelman (1968), Gary Vanier (1970), Tom Watson (1971), Conrad Nilmeier (1973), Dave Baskins (1974), Mike Peck (1976), Mike Milliken (1990), Casey Martin (1995), Joel Kribel (1996-97), Philip Rowe (2002) and Rob Grube (2006-07).

• The Cardinal holds the event’s longest team winning streak, at six (1970-1975).

The Field
• The 18-team field is comprised of host Stanford, UAB, Northwestern, Colorado State, San Jose State, Fresno State, Washington, TCU, Oregon, UC Davis, USC, St. Mary’s, UCLA, USF, Washington State, San Diego State, UNLV and Loyola Marymount.

• The field includes TCU’s Paul Barjon, who won the 2013 event with an 11-under 199.

The Course
• Located in the foothills overlooking Stanford’s campus, Stanford University Golf Course is consistently rated as one of the finest courses in the world.
• Designed in 1930 by renowned architects William Bell and George Thomas, the par-70, 6,727-yard course is steeped in tradition. Throughout the years, Stanford has hosted many intercollegiate and non-collegiate events, including the Stanford Intercollegiate, Peg Barnard Intercollegiate, Pac-10 Championship, NCAA Regional, NCAA Women’s Championship, USGA Junior Amateur Qualifying, U.S. Open Qualifying and The Gathering at the Farm, a former Senior PGA Tour event.

• Stanford University Golf Course seen many influential golfers on its grounds throughout the years. Such notables include Tom Watson, Tiger Woods, Bob Rosburg, Notah Begay III, Casey Martin and former USGA presidents Sandy Tatum, Grant Spaeth and Walter Driver.

The Last Time Out
• Patrick Rodgers defended his title at the Southern Highlands Collegiate Masters (March 7-9) by holding off UCLA’s Jonathan Garrick and UNLV’s Kurt Kitayama for his second straight win and eighth collegiate victory. Rodgers shot a 2-over 74 on his final round Sunday for the two-shot victory.

• Host UNLV (886) won the team title at Southern Highlands Golf Club, two shots ahead of second-place Stanford (297-297-294) and Oklahoma State (888).

The Next Time Out
• Stanford wraps up its regular season by traveling to the Western Intercollegiate (April 12-13) in Santa Cruz, Calif.


The Goodwin Background  - March 26, 2014 by gostanford.com
Stanford Renames Home Tournament
Program pays tribute to legendary coach Wally Goodwin

STANFORD, Calif. – The Stanford men’s golf program announced Wednesday that its annual spring tournament, formally known as the United States Intercollegiate, will be renamed ‘The Goodwin’ in honor of former head coach Wally Goodwin.

Goodwin coached at Stanford from 1983-2000, highlighted by winning the 1994 national title. Goodwin was named national coach of the year in 1992 and 1994.

“Coach Goodwin put Stanford golf back on the map, and we’re happy to name this event in his honor on the 20th anniversary of the 1994 national championship,” said Conrad Ray, Stanford’s Knowles Family Director of Men’s Golf. “Wally has done so much for the program, and brought many great golfers to Stanford. We wanted to find a fun and unique way to recognize him in perpetuity, and being that this is our only regular season home event, it’s a fitting tribute to his legacy.”

Goodwin recruited and coached standouts such as Tiger Woods, Casey Martin, Notah Begay, Conrad Ray, Joel Kribel among many other stars from Stanford’s proud golfing tradition.

After playing on the PGA Tour in 1959, Goodwin began coaching high school basketball in Colorado. Following a stint at a prep school in Ohio and a spell as the athletic director at Robert Louis Stevenson in Pebble Beach, Calif., he became an assistant basketball coach at Stetson. While at Stetson, Goodwin coached against Larry Bird’s Indiana State teams as well as other major programs like Ohio State and Michigan.

Goodwin received a call from Northwestern in 1981 and accepted the task of starting its golf program, a project that started with recruiting All-American and PGA Rookie of the Year Jim Benepe.

Goodwin came to The Farm in 1983, turning the program in a national powerhouse during his stint at Stanford.

In 1994, the year before Woods came to Stanford, Goodwin led the Cardinal to the NCAA title, defeating Texas on its home course to claim the program’s first championship since 1953.

Stanford finished second in 1995 after losing a playoff with Oklahoma State, and Woods went on to win the 1996 individual championship before going pro one season later.

Goodwin retired from Stanford in 2000. He served as the head coach for Northern Colorado from 2003-07.

Friday, March 7, 2014

The Cardinal finishes 2nd and Patrick Rodgers 1st against an elite field at Southern Highlands GC in Las Vegas


Stanford's Team - click to enlarge
Final Results:
Stanford finished in a tie for 2nd, 2 strokes behind host UNLV, while Patrick Rodgers repeated as individual champion for his 8th collegiate win.  The field was the strongest of the season as the top 5 teams in the nation were competing under windy conditions on a very challenging course, Southern Highland GC in Las Vegas.
Final team leaderboard
Patrick (74-69-74 217 1st) finished two shots ahead in the individual race that came down to the last couple of holes with several competitors still with a chance to win.  One behind with two to go Patrick finished with two pars while one competitor triple bogeyed the 17th and a second double bogeyed the 18th to seal the win for Patrick.  With this 8th collegiate victory, Patrick moves ahead of 4-time All-American Joel Kribel and only 3 wins behind Tiger Woods who remains the leader in all-time career wins at Stanford.

Quotes from an excellent GolfWeek article after the event: “This is the biggest regular-season golf tournament of the year. The best field, the best teams on a championship golf course,” Rodgers said. “I really felt like I had a lot to prove and we (Stanford) had a lot to prove this week. I hope this makes us better down the road. I came here trying to prove that I was one of the best players in the country. It’s truly an honor to be a champion back-to-back. I take a lot of pride in winning this golf tournament.”
“Credit to him to defend on this golf course,” said Conrad Ray, Director of Men’s Golf at Stanford. “I think he’s showing how mature his game is because he really didn’t have his best stuff this week. He continues to play solid and stick to his game plan and it served him well this week.”

Cameron Wilson (72-75-73 220 T8) continued his sterling play this season with another top 10 finish.  Viraat Badhwar (74-75-76 225 T21) was a steady contributor throughout while David Boote (77-78-73 228 T34) and Jim Liu (79-78-74 231 T50) had strong final rounds for the Cardinal.
Round 3 scorecards - click to enlarge
Patrick's 3 round scorecards are included below.
Patrick's winning scorecards - click to enlarge


Stanford's next tournament will be at home as it hosts the US Intercollegiate March 28-30.  In this event it will honor former great coach Wally Goodwin as it celebrates the 20th anniversary of the 1994 national championship under Goodwin's leadership.

Round 2 results:
Stanford moved from 4th into 2nd place, 2 behind the leading host UNLV team, by tying for the low round of the day with a round played once again under tough, windy conditions.  Three other teams, UCLA, top ranked Alabama and 2nd ranked Oklahoma State are within 9 shots of the lead.
The Cardinal was led by Patrick Rodgers' outstanding 69, the only sub-70 round of the tournament, as he moved into the overall individual lead at 1 under 143 (74-69 1st).  Cameron Wilson (72-75 147 T4) and Viraat Badhwar (74-75 149 T16)  each had 75s while David Boote (77-78 155 T40) and Jim Liu (79-78 157 T48) had 78s on the day.  Only some late round trouble kept the Stanford from leading the tournament.

Patrick had 7 birdies in his brilliant round to move 2 ahead in the individual competition while Cameron was even par on the day until his final two holes when he finished double bogey, bogey.  Viraat continued his consistent play with a round that included only 3 bogeys while Jim had a wonderful 2-under par round going  through 14 holes until a double on 15 and an unfortunate 9 on the par 3 17th hold derailed his round.  Second round scorecards are included below.
Round 2 scorecards - click to enlarge

“We fought hard through the front nine, but 17 and 18 are some tough closing holes and gave us trouble,” said Conrad Ray, Stanford’s Knowles Family Director of Men’s Golf. “Our guys are hungry to finish this off tomorrow.”

Round 1 results:
High winds gusting to 25+ mph challenged the field as scores were high on the already tough Southern Highlands tract.  The Cardinal stands in 4th place, 8 strokes behind host UNLV and 4 behind 2nd place Oklahoma State.  The team leaderboard below already finds some highly ranked teams well back of the leaders.

Scorecards throughout the field were dotted with high numbers and that included 3 of Stanford's players.  Cameron Wilson led the way with an even par 72 putting him tied for 6th overall.  Cameron's round included one double offset by an eagle 3 on the 18th hole.  Viraat Badhwar and Patrick Rodgers were at 74 but got there in very different ways.  Viraat was very steady with 3 bogies and 1 birdie while Patrick started with two bogies and a triple bogey 8 but remarkably played 3-under for the rest of his round with 3 birdies and no bogies.

“The course was firmer and faster today than in our practice round, and played tougher as winds were consistently around 20-25 miles per hour,” said Conrad Ray, the Knowles Family Director of Men’s Golf. “Wilson hung in there and played great. There was a bobble in the middle of his round, but he kept hitting good shots and was rewarded at the end with his eagle on 18.”

“This was Viraat’s first taste of big-time tournament golf,” Ray said. “You could tell he’s experienced, as he held himself together really well.”


David Boote managed to avoid bad holes but had 6 bogies and one birdie on his way to 77 while Jim Liu started with a triple bogey 7 on the first hole and added another 7 on the par 3 8th on his way to a 44 front nine --- Jim finished strong, however, with an eagle on the 18th for a 1-under back nine 35 giving him a 79 on the day.
Round 1 scorecards - click to enlarge

Background
Stanford competes against an elite field in the Southern Highlands Collegiate Masters hosted by UNLV.  The nation's top 5 teams are entered with the Cardinal ranked #10 with a good chance to measure it's talent against the best.  Alabama is #1, Oklahoma State #2, Georgia Tech #3, Georgia #4 and California is #5.

Stanford sends senior Cameron Wilson, junior Patrick Rodgers, sophomore David Boote and freshmen Viraat Badhwar and Jim Liu into the competition.

Knowles Family Director of Men’s Golf Conrad Ray previews the event …
“The team is looking forward to competing well and testing their games on a great golf course like Southern Highlands. This event features many of the top squads in the country, and it will produce a very good opportunity to see what we have and where we are going at this juncture. The course conditions are typically tour quality with fast greens and tucked hole locations, so patience will be key on and around the greens. Our guys are feeling confident and ready to go.”

The golf course has proved challenging in the past with Patrick Rodgers the defending champion on rounds of 66-73-73 212, while Cameron finished in 5th with his rounds of 71-71-73 215 last year.