Cardinal finishes 5th in US Collegiate at the Golf Club of Georgia behind Rodgers' win!

Live Scoring | Tournament Website | The Golf Club of Georgia | Rodgers on his win

Patrick Rodgers' 2nd win of the season - click to enlarge

Final Results
Stanford fights back from its first round and finishes 5th, only 7 strokes behind host Georgia Tech, after the final day's low round of 2-under 286.  The strong final round completed a great comeback after being in 15th and last position when day one ended.  The Cardinal was led once again by another spectacular tournament win by Patrick Rodgers (70-72-67 209 1st) who had a final round 5-under 67 that included 6 birdies and only one bogey.  This is Patrick's 2nd win of the young season and 4th of his short career at Stanford.  Patrick's 4 wins places him tied for 4th with Notah Begay on the all-time career wins list for a Stanford player, training only Tiger Woods with 11 wins, Joel Kribel with 9 wins and Rob Grube with 5 wins.  Patrick's 3 round scorecards are included below.

Patrick Rodgers' winning 3 scorecards - click to enlarge

Freshmen David Boote and Dominick Francks turned in strong even par 72s on the final round while Cameron Wilson, despite an 8 on the par 5 9th hole shot 75 and Steven Kearney improved to a 77.   David's steady round included only one bogey and birdie.

 Team results and finishes are included below (click to enlarge).

Team and individual finishes - click to enlarge

Final round scorecards can be found below (click to enlarge)

Final round scorecards

Comments from Coach Ray and a Palo Alto Online article:

"We were happy with the last couple days, but we dug ourselves a big hole on the first day," said The Knowles Family Director of Men's Golf Conrad Ray. "Our play Friday was lackluster, and we need to be better than that. I'm proud that the guys hung tough and posted two good scores. Today, our goal of the day was to be the low team of the day, and we accomplished that."

Patrick Rodgers continued his elite level of play as a Cardinal golfer, taking the individual title for the fourth time in 15 collegiate events in a run of 12 top-10 finishes in just over a year. Starting the day in fourth place after rounds of 70-72, Rodgers fired a tournament-best final round 67 (209, -7) to win the event going away. Oklahoma State's Talor Gooch and Auburn's Michael Johnson tied for second, four shots behind Rodgers who made six birdies on Sunday and 15 on the weekend.

"Patrick really impressed me today picking up his second win," said Ray. "He played great this week and stayed patient and hit a lot of quality shots under pressure today, which was impressive. He just continues to get better."

"Today we saw a great showing by Dom Francks, shooting an even-par round after a couple higher rounds earlier," said Ray. "He got better each day, which is a sign of a guy trying hard and he's doing all the right things."

Second Round Results
The Cardinal had a solid 2nd round with a 1-over 289 total that was the 2nd best team score of the day leaving them tied for 9th, 15 strokes behind the leader UCLA.  The 2nd round was a 17 stroke improvement over round one (306-289). The team is within striking range of 3rd place, back by only 7 strokes, as several squads are bunched just ahead of Stanford.

Cameron Wilson (79-69 148 T26) led the way in round two with a 3-under 69 that included 5 birdies and only 2 bogies.  Patrick Rodgers (70-72 142 4th) had a steady 72 and is in 4th place overall and only 3 strokes behind the individual leader.  David Boote (75-72 147 T21) also played well with his 72 despite three late bogies, Dominick Francks (82-76 158 T71) showed good  improvement and Steven Kearney (83-80 163 T76) had to settle for an 80.

Second round scorecards are included below:

First Round Results
It was a tough day on the links for the Cardinal as they ended in 15th place, 17 shots behind the leader Southern California.  The bright spot was the strong play of Patrick Rodgers who shot a 2-under par 70 and is tied for 4th.  Patrick got off to a blazing start with birdies on his first 3 holes as he went out in 34 and after birdies on 11 & 12 went to 4-under on the day.  Only a double bogie on 14 marred an otherwise superb round.  David Boote had a 75 and is tied for 34th while Cameron Wilson had a 79 (T63), Dominick Francks an 83 (7th) and Steven Kearney an 83 (T76).

Scorecards from round 1 are included below (click to enlarge):

Background

Stanford competes once again in the US Collegiate hosted by Georgia Tech against 12 of the nation's top 25 teams.  The traveling squad welcomes junior Cameron Wilson to the lineup for the first time in the  2012-13 season, as he returns after extended rehab of a cranky back.  The remaining squad includes All-American Patrick Rodgers, freshmen David Boote and Dominick Francks and senior Steven Kearney.

Pac-12 Preview played at Pumpkin Ridge in Portland Oregon

Live Scoring | Pumpkin Ridge-Witch Hollow GC | Preview Story | Boote-Francks Interview

Background

The No. 13 (Golf Week) Stanford men's golf team heads back on the road this weekend to compete in the Pac-12 Preview hosted by the Oregon State. The 54-hole event will be held at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club's Witch Hollow Course in North Plains, Ore.  The field is exceptional including six teams ranked in the top 30 in the most recent Golfweek rankings: California (1), Washington (5), UCLA (6), Stanford (13) Oregon State (27) and Colorado (30).

Final Results

Stanford finished 8th in this strong field of 12 teams, a total of 32 strokes behind the winning California team.  Leading the way for Stanford in his 2nd collegiate event was freshman David Boote who tied for 3rd at 8 under par on rounds of 69-69-70 208.  David finished tied for 7th in his first event in Chicago the prior week.  Over 3 rounds David only had 6 bogies against 14 birdies.  His 3 scorecards are included below:

David Boote's 3 rounds - click to enlarge

Next up was Patrick Rodgers who tied for 22nd on rounds of 73-71-71 215.  In his first collegiate start, freshman Dominick Francks had a good tourney as he tied for 33rd with rounds of 76-71-73, followed by Andrew DeDecker at 77-77-73 227 T48 and Patrick Grimes with 87-74-83 244 59th.

The final team scores are included below:

Final team scoring

Preview

Featuring all 12 conference members, play on the 7,017-yard, par-72 course begins with 36 holes Monday and concludes with 18 Tuesday.

"The team is excited to compete in the Pac-12 Preview at Pumpkin Ridge next week," said Knowles Family Director of Golf Conrad Ray. "The conference is very strong this year and we will have our work cut out for us. I think we have some good momentum coming off a solid event at Olympia Fields, and I am eager to see how we play up there. The event should be a good measuring stick on where we stand at this point in the season."

Coming off a victory in his first event of the season at Olympia Fields, sophomore Patrick Rodgers is a strong contender to challenge for the individual title. Rodgers fired rounds of 72-68-67 (-3) at the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational last week to win by five strokes.

Fellow sophomore Patrick Grimes will see his first action of the season. The Atherton native competed in nine events last season, carding a stroke average of 74.8.

Junior Andre DeDecker is coming off a solid performance at Olympia Fields where he tied for 39th after rounds of 73-74-78 (225, +15).

Freshmen David Boote and Dominick Francks will round out the lineup for the Cardinal. Boote had an impressive showing last week in his first collegiate competition, tying for seventh at Olympia Fields (214, +4). Francks, a highly regarded recruit from Olympia, Wash., is making his first collegiate start. 

Patrick Rodgers is a repeat winner at famed Olympia Fields as team finishes tied for 4th

Golfweek Recap Story | Post-event Interviews | Scoring Recap

Patrick Rodgers wins at Olympia Fields - photo by Mike Koon of Univ of Illinois

The first event of the 2012-13 tournament season is being played at the famed North Course at Olympia Fields Country Club outside Chicago, an event Stanford dominated in 2012 with a 16-stroke win. Olympia Fields North hosted the 2003 US Open plus three other majors and the event features a strong field.  Live scoring is provided by Golfstat.

This season's first event features returning 1st team All-American Patrick Rodgers and senior Steven Kearney from last year's win at Olympia Fields, plus 3 new starters, Andre De Decker, Shane Lebow and freshman David Boote.  Cameron Wilson is still recovering from a back injury and Andrew Yun is not in school preparing for the PGA Tour's qualifying school.

FINAL RESULTS:
Super sophomore Patrick Rodgers repeated as individual winner with rounds of 72-68-67 207.  His 3-under total was the only under par score as he won by 5 shots.  Patrick's final round 67 included 4 birdies and only 1 bogey which added to his 2nd round 68 without a bogey blew away the field. Here's an excellent article by Golf Week on the tournament win by Patrick. Read excerpts from the article below.

Patrick's scorecards can be found below (click to enlarge):

Patrick Rodgers' winning 3 round scorecards

Patrick Rodgers is interviewed after his win

Freshman David Boote (73-70-71 214) completed an impressive first collegiate tournament as he tied for 7th individually, only 2 strokes out of 2nd position.  Next came Andre DeDecker (73-74-78 225 T39), followed by Steven Kearney (79-73-77 229 T56) and Shane Lebow (79-78-76 233 T65).

3rd round scorecards for the team - click to enlarge

As a team Stanford finished tied for 4th, 19 strokes behind winning Arkansas.   

Final team results - click above to enlarge

EXCERPTS FROM AN EXCELLENT GOLF WEEK ARTICLE:

“This is as close to home as it gets in college golf,” said Rodgers, who hails from the Indianapolis suburb of Avon, a three-hour drive from Olympia Fields. “It doesn’t get any better than the weather today.”

The final round was played in cool, windy conditions that sent amber leaves blowing past players’ balls. It was a perfect day to tailgate at a Big Ten football game. This tournament was dominated by visitors from the Southeastern Conference, though.

Arkansas shot 14-over 854 (283-278-293) to win by 13 shots over conference rival Florida. Cappelen, the 36-hole leader, struggled to 75 Tuesday, but Cook matched Rodgers’ 67. Illinois’Charlie Danielson also shot 3 under, matching the day’s low score.

Rodgers’ comfort in his native environs is underscored by his play here the past two years.

“I think just being back here, with the seasons changing, the bent grass and fast greens, he felt really comfortable here last year, and it carried over,” Stanford head coach Conrad Ray said. “He got a little bit better every day. That’s a fine round in those conditions.”

The same architect, Tom Bendelow, designed Olympia Fields’ South Course and Rodgers' home course, the Country Club of Indianapolis. Olympia Fields’ South Course, which played 7,080 yards, is slightly shorter than the North, forcing players to make decisions off the tee and defending itself with trickier greens.

Rodgers made just one bogey over the final 36 holes. He hit sand wedge to 15 feet on the second hole for Tuesday’s first birdie. He sank an 8-footer for birdie on No. 6 that he had to play “pretty much sideways,” then wedged close to birdie the par-5 seventh hole. He made bogey on the ninth hole before rolling off eight consecutive pars. His round ended with a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th.

“I was struggling a little bit with my swing during the first round, but I struck it great these last two days,” Rodgers said. “I kept myself in it with my short game on the first day, which gave me the opportunity to play well these last two rounds.”

The victory was his third in 13 career collegiate starts. He was a first-team All-American last year after representing the United States at the 2011 Walker Cup. Rodgers returned home from the Walker Cup just two days before the start of last year’s Olympia Fields Intercollegiate, driving from Indianapolis to meet the team for his Cardinal debut in this Chicago suburb. He hadn’t set foot on Stanford’s campus as a student before that victory.

This season starts with high expectations after his freshman success. He considered attending Q-School because of the PGA Tour’s drastic changes to its qualifying structure, but decided to stay in school. He played three professional events this summer, missing the cut at the PGA Tour’s Travelers Championship (72-73) and John Deere Classic (67-74), as well as the Web.com Tour’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital Invitational (76-73).

Things started to turn around later in the summer. He was third in his title defense at the Porter Cup and advanced to the second round of the U.S. Amateur.

He said he struggled at the start of the summer as he tried to make swing changes at Stanford. This was the first time he didn’t have regular access to his coach, Kurt Schier, who lives in Indianapolis.

“I’m getting back to some older positions,” Rodgers said. “I kind of got away from a few things that had me hitting it well.” Those struggles had their benefits, though. They helped him improve his short game and game management. He has implemented a new tee shot – a low cut with the driver – that will help him hit fairways on tighter holes.

“This is testament to the hard work I’ve put in,” Rodgers said, “and I just have to keep going forward.”

His sophomore season is off to the right start.

SECOND ROUND RESULTS:
Stanford advanced to a tie for 7th place after shooting the 3rd best round of the day, a 585 total, but is now 21 strokes behind as it lost ground to leading Arkansas.  The Cardinal is 9 behind the 2nd place team from Auburn.

Patrick Rodgers (72-68 T3) led the way once again, followed closely by freshman David Boote (73-70 T9).  Next is Andre DeDecker (73-74 T29), then Steven Kearney (79-73 T54) followed by Shane Lebow (79-78 T68).  

Patrick's sparkling round, 2nd only to one at 67, was marked by all pars and two birdies on the front.  David Boote is having a fine start to his college career --- his 2nd round included 3 birdies on his final 5 holes.  Scorecards for round 2 are below:

Click above to enlarge

FIRST ROUND RESULTS:
Stanford is tied for 9th, 14 shots behind after rounds of 72 (Patrick Rodgers), 73 (Andre De Decker and David Boote) and 79 (Steven Kearney and Shane Lebow).  The highest-ranked team in the field, No. 8 Arkansas, lived up to its ranking, shooting a first round 283 (+3). That's five strokes in front of Northwestern (288) and six better than third-place Auburn (289). Northwestern's Nicholas Losole was the only player to break par, firing a two-under par 68 to lead the field individually by two strokes over six players.

First round scorecards are below:

Click above to enlarge