Sunday, February 28, 2016

Stanford completes in Mexico against a top national field


Stanford plays in the Querencia Cabo Collegiate tourney against 15 other teams with a young lineup featuring with one senior (David Boote), two juniors (Maverick McNealy & Viraat Badhwar) and two freshman (Brandon Wu and Isaiah Salinda).  Played in San Jose del Cabo, teams will compete on the Querencia GC.
Teams and Stanford lineup - click to enlarge
Final Results:
Stanford finished in a tie for 4th place with California with an 849 3-under par total, 15 strokes behind Georgia, after a final round 1-over par 285 team total.   Stanford had rounds of 286-278-285 compared with Georgia's 281-268-285

"There were a lot of positives to pull out of this week," said Conrad Ray, Stanford's Knowles Family Director of Men's Golf. "This golf course is very demanding and the guys hung in there all three days. We just didn't play the par-5's well enough and had a few balls in the desert that we would like to have back.

"It was a great team effort and a very solid result in a strong field."


The Cardinal was led once again by Maverick McNealy who shot a final round 70 to tie for 8th overall (75-65-70 210 T8) --- Maverick birdied 3 of his final four holes on the day.  Isaiah Salinda finished with a 71 to tie for 49th overall (79-72-71 T49), while David Boote had a 72 to finish tied for 14th (69-73-72 214 T14) and Brandon Wu also finished with 72 to tie for 24th (73-71-72 T24).  Viraat Badhwar finished with 75 to tie for 14th (69-70-75 214 T14).

The individual medalist for the week was Aksel Olsen of South Florida who finished with a  6-under 204 total. McNealy's second round 65 tied for the low round of the tournament.

Final team results and final round scorecards for Stanford are shown below - click to enlarge.
Final team results & Stanford final round scorecards - click to enlarge
Round 2 Results:
Behind a blazing 6-under par 65 by Maverick McNealy, Stanford moved into a tie for 3rd overall after a 6-under 278 second round total.  The Cardinal trails a red-hot Georgia by 15 strokes after the Bulldogs recorded a tournament best 268 total.

McNealy's second round included 6 birdies and no bogies putting him in tied for 12th overall (75-65 140 T12) as he closed with 4 birdies on his final 6 holes.  Maverick on the day was followed by Viraat Badhwar's 70 who sits tied for 9th overall (69-70 139 T9).  Brandon Wu had a 71 leaving him tied for 33rd (73-71 144 T33) while Isaiah Salinda posted a 72 moving him to 63rd overall (79-72 151 63rd) and David Boote had a 73 and is in 20th position (69-73 142 20th).

Second round team scores and Stanford scorecards are shown below - click to enlarge.
Round 2 team scores & Stanford scorecards - click to enlarge
Round 1 Results:
Stanford finishes in 7th place at 2-over 286 after round one, 12 strokes behind South Florida.  David Boote and Viraat Badhwar led the way, each with 69, followed by Brandon Wu's 73, Maverick McNealy's 75 and Isaiah Salinda with 79.

Boote had a steady round with 3 birdies and one bogey while Badhwar had 5 birdies, one bogey and one double bogey.  The low round of the day was a 66 by Mario Carmona of Rice.

Team standings and Stanford scorecards can be found below - click on image to enlarge.
Round 1 team and Stanford scorecards

Saturday, February 13, 2016

Stanford hosts The Prestige at La Quinta and brings all 10 players to compete

The Prestige Teams - click to enlarge
Stanford Team Cardinal
Stanford Team White (B)

Stanford is once again co-hosting The Prestige tournament with UC Davis played on the Greg Norman Course at PGA West in La Quinta, CA.  A strong field of 15 teams including defending champion LSU and last year's runner-up Southern Cal will compete.  Stanford brings its entire squad with two of its own teams competing.  The event will also feature a match-up of the world's top two amateurs, Stanford junior Maverick McNealy and Jon Rahm of ASU.
Final Results: The Cardinal struggled in the final round posting an 8-over par 292 to finish in 6th place overall, 33 strokes behind a blazingly hot LSU team which posted a tournament low 265 final round that included a 64 and three 67s.

Stanford "A" team included final round 72s by David Boote (76-67-72 215 T23) and Jeff Swegle (75-72-72 219 T37), a 73 by Isaiah Salinda (72-72-73 217 T29), a 75 by Maverick McNealy (68-74-75 217 T29) and a 77 by Brandon Wu (67-75-77 219 T37).

We didn’t have our best stuff in the final round,” said Conrad Ray, the Knowles Family Director of Men’s golf. “The course was very demanding early and we never got any momentum going on the front nine. Lots of credit goes to LSU on a great round. We have a lot of work to do, but will have some good time to prep for Cabo.”

Although Stanford had steady play by all 5 players, the team lacked enough rounds in the 60s compared with the leaders.  LSU had eight total rounds in the sixties while Stanford had three.  Compared to the rest of the field, Stanford's lowest individual finish of tie for 37th was second best behind only LSU.  But for once the team lacked anyone going low for the event.

The Stanford "B" team had a better final round total of 290 as they were led by Viraat Badhwar's 69 (77-72-69 215 T34), followed by Franklin Huang's 71 (75-73-71 219 T37), and two 75s by Chris Meyer (77-76-75 228 T64) and Dominic Francks (78-79-75 232 70th).  Bradley Knox finished with a 77 (70-77-77 224 T57).

Final round scorecards and team results are shown below -- click to enlarge:
Final round scorecards and team results - click to enlarge

Round 2 Results: On a good day for scoring with light winds and temperatures in the high eighties, Stanford's "A" team finished 1 over for the day and sits in 3rd place, moving 11 strokes behind the hot shooting ASU team which was 15 under par on the day.

David Boote had a strong 67 (76-67 143 T23) in his second round behind 5 birdies and an eagle 2 at the par 4 14th hole.  Isaiah Salinda  (72-72 144 T25) and Jeff Swegle (75-72 147 T36) both had 1 over 72, Maverick McNealy shot a 74 (68-74-142 T18) and Brandon Wu a 75 (67-75 142 T18).

Playing for the Stanford "B" team, Viraat Badhwar had a 72 (77-72 149 T46), Franklin Huang a 73 (75-73 148 T42), Chris Meyers shot a 76 (77-76 153 T66), Bradley Knox had 77 (70-77 147 T36) and Dominick Francks had a 79 (78-79 157 T73).

Team and individual scorecards for round 2 are shown below - click on image to enlarge:
Round 2 scorecards and team scores - click to enlarge
Round 1 Results: Stanford's "Cardinal" Team A finished round 1 in 2nd place, 5 strokes behind LSU.  Freshman Brandon Wu led the way with a 4-under 67 to put him 2nd place overall as an individual.  Maverick McNealy had a 68, Isaiah Salinda a 72, Jeffrey Swegle a 75 and David Boote a 76 for the "Cardinal" team.  Frederick Wedel of Pepperdine had the low individual round of 66.

Stanford "White" team B was led by Bradley Knox with a 70, followed by Franklin Huang's 75 (despite a triple bogey on 16 and a double bogey on 17), Viraat BAdhwar and Chris Meyers with 77 and Dominick Francks with 78.

Team and individual scorecards are shown below - click on image to enlarge:
Round 1 scorecards and team scoring - click to enlarge


Wednesday, February 3, 2016

New Year starts in Hawaii as 6 Cardinal golfers compete

The 2016 season starts on the Big Island of Hawaii as Maverick McNealy, David Boote, Bradley Knox, freshman Brandon Wu and Viraat Badhwar lead the Cardinal against 18 other teams including 7 from the Pac-12.   Freshman Isaiah Salinda will be competing for Stanford as an individual.

Final Results:
A final round team total of 4-under 284 left Stanford in 6th place overall, 11 strokes behind the winning USC total.  Stanford was led by a 3rd place finish by top ranked Maverick McNealy (68-68-67 203 3rd) after a final round 67 that included 6 birdies and only one bogey.  Maverick continued his outstanding season with his fifth top 5 result (including 3 wins and a tied for 5th), finishing three strokes behind Oregon's individual winner Aaron Wise who shot the tournament low round of 64 on the final day.

David Boote finished tied for 13th with rounds of 67-72-72 211, Viraat Badhwar tied for 59th overall with scores of 71-74-73 218, Brandon Wu tied for 62nd after shooting 72-75-72 219 and Bradley Knox ended tied for 72nd with rounds of 75-70-76 221.

Playing as an individual Isaiah Salinda had a solid final round 70 which included 7 birdies and 5 bogies to tie for 30th on rounds of 70-74-70 214.  A promising note, Isaiah's 17 birdies in the tournament put him 4th overall in that category, only 3 behind tournament winner Aaron Wise and two more than Maverick had in his 3rd place finish.  Isaiah was also 2nd in low par 3 scoring at 2.75 strokes/hole for the event.

Final team standings and 3rd round scorecards can be found below - click on image to enlarge:
Final team standings and 3rd round scorecards - click to enlarge
The Cardinal next moves onto Mexico to play in the Querencia Cabo event starting February 28th.

Round 2 Results:
Stanford moved back to 6th place after round two, 11 strokes behind leading UCLA and 9 behind USC after a 4-under 284 team total.  McNealy had a second straight 4-under 68  (68-68 136 T3), Boote  had a 72 (67-72 139 T11), Knox had a fine 2-under 70 (75-70 145 T46), Badhwar shot a 74 (71-74 145 T46) and Brandon Wu had a 75 (72-75 147 T72).  As an individual, Isaiah Salinda came in with a 74 (70-74 144 T39).  McNealy's fine round included 4 birdies and no bogies.

The top 6 teams and Stanford scorecards are shown below - click on image to enlarge.
Round two scorecards and top 6 team scores - click to enlarge
Round 1 Results:
Stanford is tied for 1st after round one with Southern California at 10 under par.  The Cardinal was led by David Boote's strong 5-under 67, followed by Maverick McNealy with 68, Viraat Badhwar with 71, Brandon Wu at 72 and Bradley Knox with a 75.  Isaiah Salinda fired a 70 as an individual.

Boote's great round included 5 birdies and no bogies.  McNeal's round included 5 birdies and a closing eagle to offset a bogey and one double bogey.

Team and individual scoring can be found below -- click on image to enlarge.
Round 1 Team Scoring - click to enlarge
Round 1 Scorecards - click to enlarge