Awards for the 2011-12 Season Announced

STANFORD TEAM AWARDS - June 9, 2012 - The Knowles Family Director of Men's Golf, Conrad Ray, announced the team's year-end awards today.  The annual awards honored five separate members of the 2011-12 squad and were voted on by the team and coaching staff.

Freshman Patrick Rodgers received both the Steele Award for the freshman with the lowest stroke average as well as the Team's Most Valuable Player.  Rodgers managed a 70.68 stroke average over 37 rounds and played every event for the Cardinal.  Only two Stanford players have ever achieved a lower stroke average (Joel Kribel in his Senior year and Tiger Woods in his sophomore year) and it is the lowest ever by a Stanford Freshman.  With two wins and three top 5 finishes, Rodgers placed in the top 10 in ten out of his twelve collegiate tournament starts.  His performances earned him Ping First Team All-American as well as Hogan Award Finalist honors.  Rodgers was a member of the US Walker Cup team in 2011, and will represent the US in the 2012 Palmer Cup matches.  He is currently the #2 ranked player on the R & A's World Amateur Golf Ranking.

Freshman Patrick Grimes was awarded the team's Most Improved Player award.  Grimes competed in six tournaments for the Cardinal team this year and played three events as an individual.  His low round of 66 (-6) came at the Amer Ari Invitational in Hawaii.  Since March, Grimes has been able to shave a full stroke from his scoring average and become a solid contributor within the traveling team.

Junior Andrew Yun, who has been selected by the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) to play his second consecutive Palmer Cup at the end of this month, was voted recipient of the team's Stanford Tradition Award.  This award is given to the player exhibiting leadership, strong work ethic, academic excellence, and an overall appreciation of the traditions of the University and Stanford Men's Golf.  The team votes reveal how his enthusiasm to tackle both academic and athletic challenges is widely respected and an example to follow.  

Finally, "The Spooney", which is given to the team member with the most tenacity and never give up attitude, was awarded to Senior David Chung.

"Each player being recognized has had an opportunity to etch their name and unique contribution into Stanford Golf history.  Our program is very proud of these young men who continue to blaze a trail for future years", said Head Coach Conrad Ray.

PAC-12 ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM:

STANFORD, Calif. - Three Stanford golfers - David Chung, Andrew Yun and Cameron Wilson - earned spots on the Pac-12's All-Academic team, as announced by conference commissioner Larry Scott.

Chung, who carries a 3.40 grade point average as a communications major, and Yun, a sociology majors with a 3.40 GPA, both earned second team all-academic honors.

Wilson (3.30; undeclared) was an honorable mention selection.

To be eligible for selection to the academic team, a student-athlete must have a minimum 3.0 overall grade point average and be either a starter or significant contributor on their team. 

PAC-12 ANNUAL GOLF AWARDS:

Patrick Rodgers and Andrew Yun earned first team All Pac-12 honors for the 2011-12 season.  Patrick was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year recipient.   Cameron Wilson earned 2nd team All Pac-12 recognition for his outstanding season.

STANFORD ANNUAL AWARDS ACROSS ALL SPORTS:


CONFERENCE MALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR (given to 5 athletes)
Andrew Yun - Golf
All-Pac-12 First Team selection ... Pac-12 Championships titlist ... ranked second on the team in stroke average (71.5) ... tallied six top-10 finishes in 11 events this season, including four top-five efforts ... currently ranked 12th among top individuals by Golfstat.com.

BLOCK "S" OUTSTANDING MALE FRESHMAN AWARD (given to 4 athletes)

Patrick Rodgers - Golf
PING First Team All-American ... All-Pac-12 First Team honoree ... Pac-12 Freshman of the Year ... one of three finalists for the Ben Hogan Award ... sensational rookie campaign netted 10 top-10 finishes in 12 events, including wins at the Fighting Illini Invitational and Western Intercollegiate ... shot par or better in 26 of his 37 rounds this season, including a season-low seven-under round of 65 in the third round of the Pac-12 Championships ... became the first Stanford freshman to win his first event since Tiger Woods, when he captured the Fighting Illini Invitational at Olympia Fields with a score of 206 (-4) on rounds of 68-70-68 ... Stanford's top finisher in 10 of the team's 12 tournaments this season ... finished with a stroke average of 70.7, representing the second-best single-season mark in school history along with Tiger Woods (1995-96) and Andrew Yun (2010-11).

A look ahead --- update on the Incoming Freshmen: Rodgers, Grimes & Puyat

Patrick Rodgers

Here's a review of Stanford's three incoming freshman for the 2011-12 season.  The three are Patrick Rodgers of Indiana, Patrick Grimes of Northern California and Marcel Puyat of Southern California (by way of the Philipines).

In recent months, Patrick Rodgers, in particular, has been invited to participate in some high level amateur events and his results have been very strong up against excellent amateur and collegiate competition.  Patrick finished 2nd, 1 shot behind the winner, at 11-under par in the Terra Cotta Invitational in Naples, Florida with rounds of 67-70-67 while Marcel finished tied for 11th with rounds of 70-73-71.  In the Azalea Invitational in Georgia, March 24-27,  Patrick finished third with rounds of 68-69-67-67--271 against another strong field.  In the Jones Cup Invitational, February 4-6, Patrick finished tied for 3rd, one shot behind the leaders, on rounds of 73-71-74 beating notables such as Scott Langley, Patrick Reed, Bobby Wyatt and Peter Uihlein among others.


Patrick Rodgers is rising on the World Amateur Rankings, which weights results over the previous 12 months, as he is now ranked 63rd in the world --- ahead of him are current Stanford stars David Chung at #2, Andrew Yun at #13 and Sihwan Kim at #53.

Golf Week's overall rankings of junior golfers show Patrick Rodgers at #5, Patrick Grimes at #28 and Marcel at #89.  Below are their search results from Golf Week summarizing their performances:

Patrick Rogers - Golf Week - click to enlarge

Patrick Grimes - Golf Week - click to enlarge

Marcel Puyat - Golf Week - click to enlarge

The AJGA rankings, which are skewed by the amount of events a junior plays in in the AJGA, shows rankings of Patrick Rodgers #5, Patrick Grimes #51 and Marcel #224.  Their current tournament profiles and summaries are found below:

Marcel Puyat - AJGA - click to enlarge

Patrick Grimes - AJGA - click to enlarge

Patrick Rodgers - AJGA

Cardinal signs 3 top juniors to National Letters of Intent

Here's the official press release about Stanford 2011-12 incoming freshman recruits -- more about the three below the press release.

STANFORD, Calif. - The Knowles Family Director of Men's Golf, Conrad Ray, has announced the signing of three talented high school seniors, Patrick Grimes, Marcel Puyat and Patrick Rodgers. All three players will join the Cardinal next fall as part of the Stanford Class of 2015.

Grimes, who grew up locally in Palo Alto and attends Menlo School in Atherton, CA, is familiar with The Farm. An annual participant in the Stanford Summer Golf Camps, he arrives as a highly rated Northern Californian junior prospect having won the 2008 AJGA Junior All-Star tournament at Marshallia Ranch, the 2008 AJGA Trader Joe’s Junior Championship played at the Castlewood Country Club - Hill Course, and the 2010 Mayacoba Junior Classic.  Other notable performances include the 2010 Central Coast Section title on his way to a sixth place finish at the CIF State Championships in Santa Maria.  semi-finalist showing in the 2010 San Francisco City Championship, 2nd place in the 2010 Palo Alto City Championship and 8^th in the 2010 Silicon Valley Amateur.

Puyat, resident of Indio, CA will graduate from La Quinta High School. He was born and raised in Manila, Philippines, moved to The States in 2007 and worked his way to a current ranking of 27th in the high school class of 2011 by Golfweek / Sagarin. In 2009 he won his USGA US Men’s Amateur Championship Sectional Qualifier held at Avila Golf Club in Tampa and then went on to reach the round of 16 in the US Men’s Amateur Championships held at Southern Hills Country Club and Cedar Ridge Golf Club, Tulsa, Oklahoma. Likewise, he reached the round of 16 in the 2009 USGA Junior Amateur Championship held over the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey after winning the sectional qualifier at Hideout Golf Club, Naples, Florida. Puyat was the medalist in both the Junior and Amateur in 2009. Alongside his US tournament record, he joins the Cardinal with many international tournament accolades on his impressive resume.

Rodgers, from Avon, IN and Avon High School is currently ranked 7^th in the high school class of 2010 by Golfweek / Sagarin and has stood out from his class in both golfing and academic performance. Rodgers is a two-time winner and defending State High School Champion in Indiana. He is a two-time HP Scholastic All-American in 2009 and 2010. Rodgers was named first team Rolex Junior All-American in 2009 and 2010 and Honorable mention in 2008. This recognition was behind the strength of nine top-10 finishes in his career on the AJGA Tour.  Rodgers won his first AJGA event at The SAP Junior Open in 2009. He also was a match play qualifier in the USGA Junior Championship in 2008 and 2009 and competitor in the 2010 US Amateur. Most impressively, Rodgers is ranked No. 1 in his class of 582 at Avon High School.

Coach Conrad Ray’s thoughts on the signee’s “The 2011 recruiting class that we have been able to put together is very exciting for the future of Stanford Golf.  All three players bring so much to the table in terms of their academic and athletic prowess as well as the intangibles like work ethic and personality.  We believe that this class will go down as one of the best we have had come to Stanford in a long time.”

Grimes, Puyat and Rodgers will join the team in fall of 2011. 

All three played in the top junior circuit run by the AJGA, although Grimes was less active on that tour.  Here are their summary rankings and top results as reported by AJGA:

Click to enlarge - Patrick Grimes AJGA summary

Macel Puyat - click to enlarge AJGA Summary

Click to enlarge Patrick Rodgers AJGA overview

The YouTube video below of the 2010 Illinois High School Championship includes an excellent interview of Patrick Rodgers that begins in the middle of the video - Patrick won shooting a 67-64.

The funny YouTube video below shows Patrick Grimes receiving golf lessons from a friend.