Stanford finishes 4th the UH Hilo tourney on the Big Island of Hawaii

The spectacular Mauna Lani Resort on the Big Island of Hawaii is the site of the University of Hawaii at Hilo Invitational. Stanford's team includes first team All-American sophomore Sihwan Kim, seniors Dodge Kemmer and Daniel Lim, sophomore Steve Ziegler and freshman David Chung. All-American junior Joseph Bramlett is not available due to an injury to his wrist falling from a bike on campus. The tournament website provides this overview and daily updates of the event this year:

FINAL RESULTS:
Stanford finished 19 shots back of USC in 4th place led by Steve Ziegler's 3-under 71-71-71 (T-7). The team finished 2 shots behind 3rd place TCU. Other Stanford scores were David Chung's 75-74-69 (T-15), Sihwan Kim's 74-71-77 (T-30), Dodge Kemer's 74-75-76 (T-43), and Daniel Lim's 77-80-71 (T-56). Here are full results for the event.

PRE-TOURNAMENT SUMMARY BY HOST UH-HILO:
"The 19th Annual University of Hawaii at Hilo Invitational Golf Tournament is scheduled for Wednesday, February 4 through Friday, February 6 on the Mauna Lani Resort North Course. The tournament begins with a 12:30 p.m. practice round on Tuesday, February 3. Shotgun starts will begin at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, 7:30 a.m. on Thursday and Friday.

Joining the Vulcans in this year’s tournament are defending champion Stanford University, Arizona State University, Florida State University, Fresno State University, Georgia Tech, Texas Christian University, Texas Tech University, University of California-Davis, University of Colorado, University of Hawaii-Manoa, University of Kansas, University of Oklahoma, University of Oregon, University of San Francisco, University of Southern California and University of Washington.

Defending medalist Jesper Kennegard will lead the Arizona State squad. Kennegard, a sophomore from Kippan, Sweden, has one top 10 finish in three tournaments and is averaging 71.67 strokes per round.

The 18-hole "North" course at the Mauna Lani Resort Golf Course facility in Kamuela, Hawaii features 6,913 yards of golf from the longest tees for a par of 72 . The course rating is 73.2 and it has a slope rating of 136 on Bahia grass. Designed by Robin Nelson, ASGCA/Rodney Wright, ASGCA/Ray Kane, the North golf course opened in 1981."

2009-10 Recruit Andrew Yun on the Rise by ESPN

ESPN Rise Online Magazine Celebrating High School Sports
January 7, 2009 by Brian Giuffra


Andrew Yun knows what it takes to be a great golfer. The Hamilton (Chandler, Ariz.) senior is one of the best young gofers in the nation; he is ranked the No. 6 boys' golfer from the Class of 2009 in the American Junior Golf Association's Polo rankings. Before he heads off to Stanford to continue his golf career, he talks about his top five favorite players and what he likes about their games. (More - see the complete article in ESPN Rise).

Click here for more complete info on Stanford's 2009-10 recruits Andrew Yun and Andre De Decker.

David Chung ties for 7th in the Dixie Amateur played in Florida

While on Christmas break, Stanford freshman David Chung finished in a tie for 7th at 9 under par in the Dixie Amateur completed Dec 23rd at Heron Bay Golf Club in Coral Springs, Florida. He shot rounds of 70-67-73-69 - here are the complete results from this prestigious tournament.

Coach Matt Tight reflects on the Cardinal's Fall season

Hello Fan’s of Stanford Golf,

The holidays are upon us and that means we are in the off season. The fall schedule sure did fly by and as I reflect back I see a lot of good things to look forward too as we approach the spring season and the road to NCAA’s. We capped off the fall with a nice showing at The Cordevalle Collegiate. The course played difficult this year as they added a bit of length but all in all our guys played well and a second place finish to a hot USC team was a fine showing. I feel we will be seeing a lot of the Trojans this year on the final day so vengeance is ours!!!

A highlight to the fall was a visit to Isleworth and the home of Tiger Woods. To be in the presence of greatness and see and hear what it takes to get there was pure magic. He was truly inspirational and I think our guys walked away with a better idea of what it takes to win, not only on the course, but in life as well.

The question I am left with going into the start of the New Year is who our top 5 will be. It’s a great problem to have and exciting to think about and I look forward to see who steps up! There was an epic match for the fifth spot to make the trip to Isleworth this past October and I foresee a lot of that happening this spring. Having the depth and the talent that we have only leads these kids to a much higher level of engagement in which case all boats rise. Its fun to be a part of and it’s what Stanford Golf is all about. Thanks to everyone for all your support and Go Cardinal!

Assistant Coach Matt Tight

Cardinal sign two outstanding recruits for 2009-10

Head Coach Conrad Ray has signed two talented high school seniors to athletic scholarships for 2009-2010. Andre De Decker and Andrew Yun will join the Cardinal on the links next season. The official announcement about these outstanding players by Stanford is included below.





Here are some links to stories about the two highly ranked golfers:
1. Here's an article about De Decker at age 16
2. Interview of De Decker by Golf World-South Africa
3. Here's a YouTube video of De Decker's swing
4. Story of Andrew Yun in ESPN's Rise online high school site
5. July 08 Golf Week article about Andrew Yun
6. Andrew Yun as 2008 first team All-American

Press Release by Stanford Athletics:
Stanford, Calif. - The Stanford men's golf program has signed a pair of talented high school seniors announced Head Coach Conrad Ray today. Andre DeDecker and Andrew Yun will join the Cardinal for the 2009-2010 season.

DeDecker, from Cape Town South Africa, is regarded as the one of the top juniors players in all of South Africa. In 2006 he was the Under 16 National Champion, and the Under 18 Schools Golf Champion at Sun City. We has also been a member of the South African National Team in 2006, 2007, and 2008. In 2007 DeDecker finished 2nd in the South African Amateur, Round of 16 in The Western Province Open, and 14th in The South African Amateur Match Play. In 2008 DeDecker placed 2nd in the South African Boys Stroke Play, 1st in the Dale Hays Classic and 14th in the Rolex Tournament of Champions on the AJGA Tour.

Andrew Yun, from Chandler Arizona, is a four time Junior All-American on the AJGA Tour. He finished 1st in the 2007 Arizona Amateur and 2nd in the 2007 Arizona Public Links Championships. In 2008 he finished 1st in the Verizon Junior Heritage, 6th in the Heather Farr Classic, 3rd in the Ping Invitational, and 5th in the stroke play portion of the US Junior Amateur, eventually losing in the quarterfinal round of match play.

"Andre and Andrew are fantastic additions to our squad. We are very happy that they have chosen Stanford and they will both leave their mark on our program over the next four years. Both share a wealth of competitive golf experience and I would not be surprised if both were able to come in and play a lot in their freshmen campaigns."

The pair will begin at Stanford in the fall of 2009, and help the Cardinal in its quest for the 2010 NCAA title.

Conrad Ray
The Knowles Family Director of Men's Golf
Stanford Athletics

Golf Week's Video Interview with Head Coach Conrad Ray

Stanford photo of Conrad Ray and his daughter Ella at the 2007 national championships where the Cardinal finished 2nd.

Golf Week magazine does a video interview with head coach Conrad Ray, selected as the national coach of the year in 2007. This interview covers a lot of ground in small amount of time touching on the 1994 national championship team that Conrad was a player on and the 2007 national championship team that Conrad coached.

Cardinal finishes 2nd at the CordeValle Collegiate

Stanford finished 2nd in the CordeValle Collegiate played in San Martin, CA, behind a dominant performance by USC which won the team title by 26 shots. Three Cardinal players finished in the top 10 individually with Sihwan Kim tying for 4th at 2-under par, Joseph Bramlett in 6th at even par and Jordan Cox tying for 10th at 2-over playing as an individual.

The unique format had each team including 6 players with the low 5 rounds each day counting towards the team score, instead of the typical event with 5 players on a squad. The four remaining Stanford players who counted for the team included David Chung at 11-over and the trio of players, Kemmer, Lim and Ziegler, all at 12-over.

Stanford's team will now be off until they return to action Feb 4th on the Big Island in Hawaii.

POSTED AFTER FIRST TWO ROUNDS:
After two rounds Stanford is in 2nd place but finds itself 19 strokes behind a red-hot USC team which has 3 players at the top of the individual leaderboard. Stanford is led by its two All-Americans, Sihwan Kim at 1-under and in 6th place and Joseph Bramlett tied for 7th at even par. An encouraging note is the play of junior Jordan Cox who is in 10th place at 1-over par, although he is playing as an individual so his scores don't count towards team play.

The weather has been on the cool side and the 2nd round was marked by gusty winds throughout the day making scoring conditions tough. The CordeValle course is showing its teeth given the conditions with the average scoring around 76 shots per round and the low round over the first two days was a 68. Only two other rounds were under 70, one being Sihwan Kim's first round 69 that tied him for the individual lead after day one.

In the second round the gusty winds led to erratic play by the entire field, including the Cardinal team. Cox's low team round of 70 included 7 birdies, 5 on the front nine when he made the turn at 3-under 33. Kim's round included a double bogey 7 on the par 5 third hold but he came back to close with an eagle on the par 5 18th hole over water. That 18th hole proved to be tough on two of the Cardinal players as Bramlett and Kemmer both finished with double bogies, in Bramlett's case that led to a still solid 1-over 73. Bramlett offset two double bogeys with five birdies.


The Stanford news service reports the following before the tourney began:

Playing for the Cardinal in the 54-hole three-day tournament will be Sihwan Kim, Joseph Bramlett, David Chung, Steve Ziegler, Daniel Lim, and Dodge Kemmer. Jordan Cox will also be competing as an individual. Kim was last year's CordeValle individual champion, and helped the team to a second place finish.

Four other Golfweek top 50 teams will be joining Stanford in the tournament: Arizona, No. 2 Arkansas, No. 36 Augusta State, Charlotte, Coastal Carolina, No. 18 Lamar, Northwestern, Santa Clara, UCLA, USC, and No. 9 Washington.

The Cardinal is paired with Lamar and Lim will be the first to tee off on the first hole at 8 a.m. to begin the tournament.

For more information about the CordeValle Golf Course, please visit http://cordevalle.com/golf.cfm.