Stanford finishes 3rd in the Prestige played at PGA West

Stanford finished 3rd in the Prestige played at PGA West on the Greg Norman course in a tourney it co-hosts with UC Davis. Leading the way was TCU winning by 10 over 2nd place UC Davis while the Cardinal was another 8 shots behind Davis.

Final results on the surface look good as Stanford had 4 individuals placing in the top 20, but what largely separated the top two teams from the field was the very strong play from the two players who tied for first individually at 6-under par. Stanford's best, Sihwan Kim, finished at two-over par in a tie for 8th place. TCU also had two other players finishing tied for 5th at 1-over par leading to their dominating win.

After Kim, Steve Ziegler's last two solid rounds included a 2-under 70 final round to move him into a tie for 11th with teammate Joseph Bramlett who finished with a final round 75. Freshman David Chung had a top-20 finish with his 3rd round 73 leading to his tie for 15th place overall. Daniel Lim finished with a 76 to tie for 63rd.

Playing as individuals Dodge Kemmer had a 75 last round to finish tied for 30th overall and Jordan Cox had a 73 on his third round and finished tied for 76th place overall.

Next up is a major test against the nation's elite teams in Windermere, Florida, home of Tiger Woods and the Isleworth Country Club, site of the upcoming tournament. Stanford will look to improve its play from all team members in order to compete for this top event.


COMMENTS AFTER ROUNDS 1 & 2:
Desert golf at La Quinta, California, is proving to be a challenge for the teams competing at the Prestige played on the Greg Norman course at PGA West. In the morning round of the 36-hole first day, unseasonably cool temperatures in the fifties to start the day combined with Santa Ana winds that gusted to 30 miles per hour led to very high scores.

Stanford was in 2nd by 3 strokes behind TCU after the morning round 9-over par 597 being led by Joseph Bramlett's 72, Sihwan Kim and David Chung's 74s and Steve Ziegler's 77. Daniel Lim's 78 was not counted as the low four scores are used each round. Dodge Kemmer and Jordan Cox played as individuals shooting 74 and 84 respectively.

The winds subsided a bit though still gusting and the desert heated up into the low eighties but the second round followed the same pattern as Stanford improved to 592 was again lost 3 shots to TCU falling 6-shots behind. Meanwhile UC Davis had a torrid 582 score led by a sparkling 63 from their top player. Stanford scores in the afternoon were Kim 72, Bramlett 73, Ziegler 73, Chung 74, Lim 78, Kemmer 78 and Cox 79 were disappointing with nobody going low.

The pattern of play in the first round for all but Kim and Bramlett was that doubles, triples and quads would mar otherwise decent golf on a day when pars were at a premium. Chung's 74 included a triple, for example. In the 2nd round, again Kim and Bramlett were the only players who managed to avoid a score worse than a bogey.

Individually the Cardinal has three players in the top ten led by Bramlett's tied for 4th.
It will take a solid last round to claim this title but Stanford is certainly very capable of pulling that off.

Stanford finishes 4th in 1st Tourney, the Illini Invitational

Olympia Fields GC. Tournament photos below courtesy of GolfStat.

Stanford finished 4th in first tournament of the 2008-09 season played at the venue of the 2003 US Open, Olympia Fields Golf Club in Illinois. Hosted and won by Illinois, the field was very strong including three of the top ten teams: defending national champion UCLA, Stanford and perennial power Oklahoma State.

Qualifying to make the trip are Sihwan Kim, Joseph Bramlett, Dodge Kemmer, Steve Ziegler and freshman David Chung. Joseph is coming back from his long injury layoff from last year while David Chung, highly touted freshman, is making his collegiate debut.

Here you will find a hole by hole review of the great Olympia Fields North golf course. You can find complete live scoring for the entire field here.

FINAL RESULTS - Stanford finished 4th, 15 strokes behind behind host school Illinois, which was followed by Indiana and Oklahoma State. Bramlett led the way as he tied for 7th at 3-over par, followed Kemmer at 6-over, Ziegler at 7-over, Kim at 13-over and Chung at 15-over par.

Joseph's third round 71 (he finished 4 shots behind the individual leader) was very steady finishing with 2 bogeys and one birdie while Dodge overcame two double bogeys with 3 birdies offsetting one bogey to shoot 72. Steve's 70, Stanford's best final round, had him firing a 33 on the back nine with four birdies and 2 bogeys. Sihwan's 73 included 5 bogeys and two birdies and David 71 resulted from a two birdie, 3 bogey round.

Although the Cardinal may be disappointed to not win their opening event, the best news is that Joseph Bramlett appears back in fine form after his long absence due to injury. That should prove very significant for this deep Stanford team that should only get better as the season progresses

ROUND 2 RESULTS - Although Stanford remains in a tie for 5th place, they have fallen 11 shots behind Oklahoma State. The day included rounds of 71 by Kemmer, three 74s by Bramlett, Ziegler and Kim, and a 75 by Chung.

Joseph is in a tie for 7th individually after two days of play (68-74). His round included 4 bogeys and no birdies while 2 of his bogeys came on his last two holes. Dodge's solid 2nd round included 4 birdies and 5 bogeys while Sihwan had a good round going until he finished bogey, double bogey. Steve managed to avoid any doubles but he had 6 bogeys and 1 birdie. David's round looked promising but was marred by an opening double bogey and a triple bogey on #16.

No question the team will need a very strong round to overcome the lead of the top two teams.

ROUND 1 RESULTS - The Cardinal stands tied for 5th at 10-over par after the first round, led by Bramlett's tournament leading 68 and Kemmer and Ziegler's 73. Kim opened with a 76 and David Chung struggled to a 79. Stanford stands only 2 shots behind a trio of teams tied at the top. Bramlett's strong opening round included 5 birdies and 3 bogeys. Freshman David Chung's collegiate career included a quadruple bogey 8 on his 2nd hole, a tough start indeed. Two other double bogeys followed leading to his 79. Ziegler's solid 73 included a triple bogey on the 4th but he played well thereafter with 3 birdies to post his 3-over round. Kemmer's 73 was steadier with 4 bogeys and 1 birdie. Returning first team All-American Kim struggled early after bogeying 3 of his first 4 holes. He played 1-under par golf thru 15 after the rough start but then had two double bogeys on 16 and 18 to finish at 6-over.

Sihwan Kim was not happy when his tee shot ended right of the bunker on 8. He hit this shot nicely to 5 feet and made the par putt.

Steve Ziegler tees off on the long par 3 eigth hole. He hit a great shot and made the birdie putt.

David Chung with a touchy downhill chip on 8. It ran 4 feet past and left of the hole and he made the par putt.

2008-09 Player web pages are updated with swing sequences and new stats

We've added individual NCAA tournament statistics for each player who has competed for Stanford. In addition, for all the returning players, their individual web pages include swing sequences such as the one shown below.

For example, here's the updated web page for sophomore All-American Sihwan Kim: http://stanfordmensgolf.com/kim.htm.

Here's the swing sequence for returning senior Dodge Kemmer which can be found in a larger image on his web page:

Joseph Bramlett finishes 7th in 1st tourney in 9 months

Joseph Bramlett returned to competitive play and finished in 7th place with rounds of 68-66-75, trailing the winner Matt Grush by 6 shots shots. Joseph was only 2 shots back in 2nd after the first two rounds. The final day was blustery and Joseph went out in 39 to move out of contention. Here's an article from the Scramento Bee describing the final round.

All final scores are shown here: http://www.statefairgolf.net/events/allscores.asp.

A local Sacramento Bee story had this to say about Joseph after the second round --- "Bramlett is a 20-year-old Stanford junior who was the youngest to qualify for the U.S. Amateur at age 14 and has been a star in the making for years.

'I'm just thrilled to be competing again,' said Bramlett, a Saratoga resident who didn't swing a golf club from January through July of this year after bruising his wrist in a team training exercise."Here's the Sacramento Bee story after the 2nd round.

Joseph hurt his wrist in a training accident with the golf team at the end of 2007 and missed the entire spring and summer golf seasons. After his outstanding freshman campaign at Stanford where Joseph earned 2nd team All-American honors it was a significant loss for Stanford's team that went on to finish 2nd in the NCAA Championship without Joseph.

Sihwan Kim loses in the round of 16 at the US Amateur

Sihwan Kim loses in the round of 16 at the US Amateur on the 23rd hole to Charlie Holland. The two players tied 7 straight holes including the first 4 extra holes before Sihwan lost to a birdie.

8/21/08 Posting:

Sihwan Kim dominated in his 2nd match at the US Amateur winning 5 & 4 to advance to the round of 16 and he will play Charlie Holland of Dallas in another match today. Sihwan was very solid in his play this morning to steadily build up his lead.


Match play results can be found here: http://www.usamateur.org/scoring/nml/reversetree.html.


Previous results that were posted are shown below.

Sihwan Kim wins his first match on the 19th hole beating Sam Saunders of Orlando. Sihwan was 3 up with 3 to play before his opponent tied it up after 18 holes. Kim parred the first extra hole to win the match. Sihwan moves on to play Matt Hill from Canada who upset Jamie Lovemark who plays for USC.

The two rounds of qualifying are complete at the US Amateur championship being played at the world famous Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina. Sihwan Kim was able to advance to match play as he shot 68-72 to tie for 10th. In Sihwan's second round he was at 5 over after 13 holes but birdied 3 of the next 4 holes to post a solid 2-over 72. A total of 64 players out of a field of 315 players move into the match play portion of the championship to determine the nation's top amateur player.

Jordan Cox missed the cut by 2 shooting a 73-74 while David Chung shot 73-76 and Steve Ziegler shot 75-75.


Stroke play scoring can be found at http://www.usamateur.org/scoring/nml/stroke.html. The main event website is: http://www.usamateur.org/.

Ziegler ties for 10th, Lim ties for 36th & Kemmer ties for 60th at the Pacific Coast Amateur in Victoria, BC

Final results are in at the Pacific Coast Amateur and Steve Ziegler ties for 10th with a 4-under 276 after a final round 71. Steve finished 5 shots behind the winner. Daniel Lim again struggled to a final round 74 to finish 6-over at 286 and tie for 36th overall. Dodge Kemmer's final round 71 left him tied for 60th at 14 over par in a disappointing tourney for him.

Steve Ziegler is surging after a 2nd straight 66 (73-66-66) in the 3rd round of play, while Daniel Lim struggled to a 75 (68-69-75) and Dodge Kemmer remained well back after his 71 (73-79-71). The leader is 6 shots ahead of Ziegler.

After two rounds of play, Daniel Lim tied for 11th with his 68-69, 137, Steve Ziegler tied for 20th with a 73-66, 139, while Dodge Kemmer struggle to tie for 74th with rounds of 73-79, 152. The leader is 6 shots ahead of Lim at 131.

In the first round of the Pacific Coast Amateur Daniel Lim tied for 7th with his 68, while Dodge Kemmer and Steve Ziegler tied for 50th after their 3-over par 73s. There are two players from Canada tied for the lead with 5-under scores of 65.

The tournament is being held at the Royal Colwood Golf Club in Victoria, British Columbia.

Here are full tournament results. The tournament website ---pacificcoastamateur.com ---contains complete information about the course and event.

A beautiful gallery of photos of this historic course created in 1913 can be found at this website.

US Amateur Qualifying Results: Kim, Cox, Ziegler & Chung are in the Championship

A final list of Stanford qualifiers for this year's US Amateur includes Sihwan Kim, Jordan Cox, Steve Ziegler and David Chung. The event will be played at famed Pinehurst #2 and #4 courses in North Carolina - photo from Pinehurst Resort website.

The last qualifer was Sihwan Kim who shot an even par 69-71 at Hacienda Golf Club in Southern California after returning from the grueling, but successful Western Amateur in Michican. Here are complete scores from Sihwan's qualifier.

In early qualifying both incoming freshman David Chung and rising sophomore Steve Ziegler (large photo) qualified for the 2008 US Amateur championship to be held August 18-24 at the Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina. Jordan Cox also qualified based on his earlier qualifying for the US Open.

Here are complete 2008 Sectional Qualifying results from the USGA which will be updated for the next week as new qualifiers are completed.

Steve Ziegler shot 71-69 to lead all qualifying in Colorado by 4 shots. This will be the second time Steve has played in the US Amateur, having qualified in 2006. Steve Ziegler Qualifying Results at Colorado Golf Club.

David Chung shot 141 in his 36-hole qualifier in Hamilton, NY, to qualify as well. David's hometown paper covered the results.




















Daniel Lim, a rising senior, failed to qualify as he shot a 73-76 to miss out by 3 shots in a qualifier held at the Peninsula Golf Club in Northern California. Dodge Kemmer failed to qualify as well. Sihwan Kim will play in a qualifier next week.