Last week was a special one for the Stanford men's golf team which had a dominating win by 16-strokes on the demanding Olympia Fields CC against an elite field that included the #1, #4, #6, #8 and #12 teams in the nation. Some perspective on just how special last week was for Stanford:
- It was the Cardinal's first team win since Feb 2010.
- Stanford had the #1, #3 and #4 finishers individually, perhaps the best top 3 finishes by any team in years. Closest to that were #4, #5 and #6 finishes by Stanford in the May 2010 regional at Notre Dame.
- Stanford led all 3 rounds and won by 16 shots, a larger margin than any in recent memory.
- Stanford had 5 rounds in the 60s on a very tough course, next best team had 2 rounds in the 60s.
- Stanford had the day's low individual round on two of the three days, and was 1 stroke behind on the other day.
- Patrick Rodgers' win in his first event was the first such win by a freshman since Tiger Woods in 1995.
- Patrick Rodgers was named national player of the week by Golf Week and Stanford athlete of the week for all sports, the latter a first for a golfer since Sihwan Kim was honored June 2008.
- The lineup included two freshman, one sophomore and two juniors.
- Stanford was playing without 2-time All-American David Chung.
This is only one event and a long road lies ahead to where this team will hope to end up but it will surely be fun to watch this year's crop of players develop.
Interview with Coach Ray after the win
Interview with Coach Ray after day 2 with Cardinal leading by 11
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