Stanford ties for 9th in first tournament at Olympia Fields

The 2010-11 tournament season started at the famed North Course at Olympia Fields Country Club outside Chicago. Olympia Fields North hosted the 2003 US Open plus three other majors and the event features a strong field --- the Cardinal have been picked at #4 in pre-season rankings by Golf Week.


Stanford sent a young team into action led by senior Steve Ziegler, junior Wilson Bowen, sophomores Andrew Yun and Steven Kearney and freshman Cameron Wilson.  All-Americans David Chung (ranked #2 individually among collegians) and Sihwan Kim will be sitting this event out giving the younger Cardinals a chance to gain valuable experience.  The temporary traveling coach will be 4-time All-American Rob Grube subbing for Coach Ray who remains in Palo Alto to await the imminent birth of his 2nd child.


ROUND TWO AND THREE SCORING:
Stanford finishes in a tie for 9th with an 870 total  in this first tournament won by Florida with its 845 total.  Andrew Yun led the way tying for 11th at 213 total with rounds of 69-68-76,  9 strokes behind tournament winner Peter Uihlein (recent US Amateur champion).  Andrew's final round was marred by a 4-over 8 on the 4th hole.  Next was Steve Ziegler's 216 total with rounds of 74-72-70 to tie for 24th.  Cameron Wilson was at 219 to tie for 36th shooting 71-74-74, Steven Kearney at 223 tying for 51st with 73-75-75 while Illinois native Wilson Bowen shot 227 tying for 66th with 75-74-78.


No doubt the tournament provided valuable experience for frosh Wilson and for Kearney and Bowen who saw limited action last year.  Missing from the squad was #2 ranked and recent US Amateur runner-up David Chung and two-time All-American senior Sihwan Kim.  Final round hole-by-hole scoring can be found below:

3rd round scoring - click to enlarge

ROUND ONE SCORING:
The team is in 8th place after a 7 over par 287 total, 7 strokes behind Florida.  Andrew Yun was 1-under at 69, Cameron Wilson had a 70, Steven Kearney a 73, Steve Ziegler a 74 and Wilson Bowen a 75.  Of note Andrew fired a 3-under 32 on the back nine while Steven was 3 under after 13 before struggling over the last 5 holes.  Cameron, a freshman, had a solid start to his college career with a steady round including one birdie and two bogies. Hole by hole scoring can be found below:

Click to enlarge for Stanford's round 1 hole by hole scoring

Complete live scoring can be found at http://golfstatresults.com/public/index.cfm?tournament_id=2298.  Background info on the tournament can be found at http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-golf/spec-rel/091410aac.html and it's included below.


BACKGROUND STORY - Olympia Fields, Ill. - In quick order, the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational has become one of the elite tournaments in collegiate golf. The 2010 event, the fifth annual, is no exception. Defending NCAA team champion Augusta State and NCAA individual champion Scott Langley of Illinois highlight an extremely strong field at this weekend's tournament, which features a 54-hole format (18 holes each day) and runs from Sept. 17-19 at the historic Olympia Fields Country Club.

The tournament already has history with 2007 champion Rickie Fowler of Oklahoma State being named to the United States Ryder Cup team this fall. Not only does it include the NCAA champions, but runner-up Oklahoma State, semifinalist Florida State and nine teams overall who reached the 30-team NCAA finals in June.

"The past fields have been strong, but this one has a lot of good amateurs in it and the teams are impressive as well," said Illinois head coach Mike Small.

The top three teams in the Golf World/Nike Coaches poll will be there and 10 of the top 20 teams in the nation overall -- #1 Oklahoma State, #2 Stanford, #3 Augusta State, #8 Florida, #11 Texas, #12 Arizona State, #13 Florida State, #15 Alabama, #16 Illinois and #19 Duke. California, the first team also receiving votes in the top 25 poll, will also compete at Olympia Fields this weekend. The rest of the field consists of the Big Ten foes Indiana, Northwestern, Ohio State and Purdue.

Recently, Golfweek released its list of the top 30 collegiate players and six of the top nine will be at Olympia Fields, including three from top-ranked Oklahoma State -- 1 Peter Uihlein of Oklahoma State; #4 Langley, #5 Kevin Tway of Oklahoma State; #6 Morgan Hoffman of Oklahoma State; #7 Bud Cauley of Alabama; and #9 Patrick Reed of Augusta State.  Stanford's David Chung, ranked #2, is not competing this week for the Cardinal.