Univ of Hawaii at Hilo's Ari Invitational includes a very strong field

Feb 4 - Final Round 3 Results:
A final round 1-under 287 total left the Cardinal in 11th place in this tournament played at the Waikoloa Kings Course on the Big Island of Hawaii --- see tourney details below.  The first round 293 total put the Cardinal 15 shots behind the eventual winner, Oklahoma State, and despite a solid 2nd round 278 the final round left Stanford 28 shots behind the OSU.  Complete scoring by GolfStat.com can be found at http://golfstatresults.com/public/index.cfm?tournament_id=2445.

The Cardinal was led by Andrew Yun's 75-68-69 that left him tied for 22nd.  Next came David Chung with a 72-69-72 to tie for 28th, followed by Steve Ziegler with 74-71-72 tying for 51st, Cameron Wilson with 74-70-74 to tie for 59th and Graham Brockington's 73-72-77 tying for 80th.

All in all a disappointing finish for the 11th ranked Cardinal who will have something to prove in the months ahead leading to the NCAA championship.  Final round scorecards are below --- click on image to enlarge.

Final round scorecards - click to enlarge

Feb 3 - Round 2 Results:
The Cardinal rebounded well after a poor first round with a 10-under par 278 total, 15 shots lower than round one's total leaving the team in 11th position, 20 shots behind OSU.  Andrew Yun led the way with a 4-under 68 in a round that featured four birdies and no bogies.  David Chung followed with a 69, Cameron Wilson shot 70, Steve Ziegler a 71 and Graham Brockington a 72.

The second round total tied for the 4th best of the day behind UCLA's and Oklahoma State's leading 273 total.  Scorecards for each Stanford player are shown below - click on the image to enlarge:

2nd round scorecards - click to enlarge

Feb. 2, 2011 - Round 1 Results:

A very tough first round for all found Stanford a whopping 22 shots behind the leading USC team.  A tournament overview is found at the bottom of this post.  Below are the scorecards for each player - click on the image to enlarge:

Click to enlarge

WAIKOLOA, Haw. - Thirteen teams managed to shoot under par on the first day of the Amer Ari Invitational being contested at the Kings' Course at Waikoloa on the Big Island on Wednesday. Unfortunately, Stanford was not included in the group that tamed the Kings' Course layout, as the Cardinal were five-over on its opening round and are in 19th place, 22 strokes behing first place USC.

The Trojans shot a sizzling 17-under 271 and are seven strokes clear of Georgia Tech and Oklahoma State, who are tied for second at 278 (-10). Arizona State is in fourth place at 279 (-9).

Junior David Chung shot an even par 72 on his opening round and is tied for 42nd place on the leader board, 10 strokes behind Oregon's Daniel Miernicki, who shot an opening round 62. Miernicki has a four stroke cushion over San Jose State's Matt Hovan and USC's Jeffrey King and Sam Smith, who all carded rounds of 66 this morning.

Senior Graham Brockington is tied for 65th place after an opening round 65. Brockington had three birdies and four bogies on the front nine and shot even par on the backside.

Senior Steve Ziegler and freshman Cameron Wilson are tied for 76th after each shot two-over rounds of 72.
Sophomore Andrew Yun is tied for 88th after an opening round 75. 


Jan. 31, 2011
STANFORD, Calif. - Stanford's men's golf team, ranked 11th by Golfweek, will open its spring season on Wednesday at the Amer Ari Invitational, where the Cardinal will defend its team title against one of the strongest fields in the nation.

The 54-hole event gets underway Wednesday at the Waikoloa Kings' Course on the Big Island. Live scoring will be available on GolfStat.com -http://golfstatresults.com/public/index.cfm?tournament_id=2445.

Top-ranked (Golfweek/Sagarin) UCLA, No. 2 Oklahoma State, No. 5 Georgia Tech and No. 7 Texas are also included in the field, along with Arizona State, Colorado, Florida State, Hawaii-Hilo, Hawaii-Manoa, Oregon, Oregon State, San Francisco, San Jose State, TCU, Texas Tech, Washington, Western Washington, USC and UC Davis.
Stanford won last year's event with a 54-hole total of 866 on Mauna Lani's North Course, finishing three strokes ahead of Oregon and Washington for the team title. The Cardinal also captured team titles in 2007 and '08 in addition to last year's crown.

Knowles Family Director of Golf Conrad Ray is expected to start a lineup featuring sophomoreAndrew Yun, senior Steve Ziegler, junior David Chung, freshman Cameron Wilson and seniorGraham Brockington.

"It will be nice to be at close to full strength for the first tournament of the spring," said Ray. "It's probably the best field we will see this spring outside of the NCAA Championships and we've been lucky enough to fare pretty well over there the past couple of years. The Kings' Course is a great test of golf."

Yun was Stanford's most consistent player in four fall events, carding two top-10 finishes highlighted by his first collegiate individual title at The Prestige. He also tied for fourth at the Isleworth Intercollegiate and narrowly missed a top-10 finish at the Fighting Illini Invitational at Olympia Field, where he tied for 11th.

Ziegler, whose best finish in the fall was a tie for 14th at the Isleworth Collegiate, will hold down the No. 2 position in this event behind Yun after a strong qualifier.

Chung, currently ranked second on the Royal & Ancient's World Amateur Golf Rankings, finished tied for ninth at the Gifford Collegiate in his only event of the fall.

Wilson, one of two freshmen on this year's team along with Shane Lebow, was impressive in his four fall events, carding two top-10 finishes. In just his second collegiate event, the left-hander placed fifth at The Prestige at PGA West and closed the fall with a ninth place showing at the Gifford Collegiate.

Brockington will make his first start of the season.

"We have tremendous depth on this year's team," said Ray. "Five or six guys can win a tournament anytime out."

David Chung ranked #1 in world amateur rankings, Andrew Yum #22

In the current world amateur rankings published by the Royal & Ancient Golf Association, David Chung maintains his #1 ranking ahead of US Amateur champion Peter Uihlein.  Andrew Yun is ranked #22 on that same ranking.

In the Golf Week men's amateur rankings David is #3, Andrew #16 and Sihwan Kim #55.

David was also selected as the Carolinas Player of the Year by the Carolinas Golf Association.  It will be a busy spring for David as he continues preparation for possible Walker Cup play and prepares for the upcoming Masters golf tournament on top of the Stanford tournament schedule that starts in February in Hawaii.

Historic Day for Joseph Bramlett '10 & Zack Miller '07 earning PGA Tour Cards

Coach Conrad Ray called it "an awesome day for the program".  Tiger Woods tweeted after Joseph Bramlett finished his round -  "Amazing feat considering he  sat out a whole year with wrist injury. Can't wait to play with him next season."  Joseph said "I don't think I've ever heard my dad cry before" when interviewed after the final round.  Two Stanford golfers have made it to the PGA Tour, Zack Miller '07 (tied for 4th) and Joseph Bramlett '10 (tied for 16th).  Here is the leaderboard for the entire final stage of the PGA Tour's Qualifying School and a thumbnail on each of this year's tour qualifiers.


For the 22 year old Joseph Bramlett, success was historic given his mixed race parentage with an African American father.  Joseph became the first African American in 25 years to successfully advance through the final stage of Q-school to earn a PGA tour card.  He also becomes the first African American to join Woods on Tour during the Tiger era.  Joseph was featured in an in depth article on the PGA Tour's website., in a NY Times article, in Golf Week, in the SJ Mercury and in this article in Golf.com.


Joseph came to Stanford after a brilliant junior career that included qualifying for the US Amateur at age 14, at the time he was the youngest to ever do so.  His freshman year he won All-American honors helping Stanford to the 2007 national championship.  His next two seasons were marred by wrist injuries while his senior season found him able to compete once again.


Joseph started his final round tied for 33rd, 2 shots off the cutline at 7-under par and compounded the challenge by bogeying two of his first three holes to drop to 5-under.  What followed was nothing short of sensational as he reeled off 7 birdies including 5 in a row from holes 8-12.  A  12-foot birdie putt on the par 5 17th moved him to 11-under and a clutch 7 footer on the tough 18th to secure his card tying for 16th.  His rounds were  67-73-69-69-72-68 (T-16).  


His final round scorecard is below (click to enlarge):

Final round scorecard of Joseph Bramlett featuring 7 birdies

Zack Miller '07, captained Stanford's 2007 national championship team when Bramlett was a freshman All-American.  Zack has steadily built his game since graduation and enjoyed a successful Nationwide Tour season this year.  Zack had rounds of 70-68-67-68-71-71 (T-6) to finish tied for 6th at 14 under par.  His final round was solid with two birdies offsetting two bogies.  The Golf Channel telecast captured a 40-foot birdie putt on hole 14, shown below, and his great up and down from the front bunker on the tough 18th hole where he drained a 6-foot final putt.  


Zack finished 56th on the Nationwide Tour with more than $121,000 in earnings.  In the 2009 PGA Q-School he made it to the final stage where he finished in 90th place to earn his Nationwide Tour card.  The video below shows Zack rolling in a 40-footer on the 14th hole of his final round.





The final round recap below of the 2010 PGA Tour's Qualifiying School includes mention of Joseph Bramlett:





I had the pleasure of playing a member-golf team round with Joseph Bramlett at Stanford in 2009 and it was the finest round of golf I've ever witnessed -- Joseph was a pleasure to spend time with throughout his great round.  He had 5 birdies, 2 eagles and shot a 63 despite missing a number of putts inside 12 feet.  I first met Zack Miller when he was 18 having just graduated from high school.  Zack was playing with my son (I was caddying) at Pasatiempo (in Santa Cruz, CA) in a US Open qualifier and he displayed a superb all-around game in successfully moving to the next round of qualifying.  Equally impressive was his demeanor and engaging manner, traits that continued as I followed his progress at Stanford.


The PGA Tour's article written by Brian Wacker about Joseph Bramlett is copied below:


PGA TOUR - Brian Wacker 12/6/10

WINTER GARDEN, Fla. -- More than a decade after Tiger Woods became the first African American to win the Masters, another black golfer with mixed race parents who learned the game by emulating the swing of his father in a mirror and later matriculated at Stanford University cut his own little slice of history.

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Monday, Joseph Bramlett became the first African American in 25 years to successfully advance through the final stage of q-school to earn a PGA TOUR card for 2011. He also becomes the first African American to join Woods on TOUR during the Woods era.

The parallels to Woods and the social significance of the moment are striking. They also weren't lost on Bramlett, his father Marlo and certainly not on Adrian Stills, previously the last black man to make it to the TOUR this route.

"I don't think I've ever heard my dad cry before," said Bramlett, who finished in a tie for 16th at 11 under at Orange County National.

"It's been too long. To finally end that 25-year drought means the world to me, my family and everyone who has helped me along the way. It's an honor, it truly is an honor. Like I've said before, it's been a long time. I'm just thrilled to see it start to change."

And no one helped Bramlett get to where he is today more than his dad.

As a young boy, Bramlett kept a club in his crib and by three years old he was hitting golf balls with his dad in a soccer field near their house in Saratoga, Calif.

Later, he would become the youngest player at the time to qualify for the U.S. Amateur at age 14. Eventually, Bramlett helped Stanford win the NCAA men's team title in 2007 before being sidelined for nearly two years by two wrist injuries.

Earlier this year, Bramlett graduated from Stanford (in just under four years, no less) and the next day was at Pebble Beach playing practice rounds for the U.S. Open with Woods, who he had a poster of hanging in his room as a child.

Sound familiar?

Tiger was impressed

Tiger Woods took notice of Jospeh Bramlett's performance, congratulating the soon-to-be rookie on making it through q-school via Twitter. Click here for more.

Monday, Woods tweeted: "Congrats to Joe Bramlett for making it through q-school. Amazing feat considering he sat out a whole year with wrist injury. Can't wait to play with him next season."

But Woods wasn't the only one watching.

Up the West Coast of Florida, Stills arrived home from his job as the head professional at the Osceola Municipal Golf Course in Pensacola early on Monday, eagerly tracking Bramlett's progress on his laptop while watching it unfold on television.

Stills soaked in every second of the moment with "a sense of fulfillment and enjoyment."

"I'm not an overly religious person, but I couldn't believe the timing of it being 25 years," Stills said. "I've been in that situation and shot 68 the last day of q-school with the heat on and that today was some good stuff."

Stills' playing career might not have amounted to much -- he spent just one year on TOUR -- but he said the game of golf had given him an awful lot. He's returned the favor by more than 40 of years of involvement, much of which has centered on teaching and the The First Tee program.

"The game lends itself to so many good things, it's important to have another African American out there," said Stills, who was inspired by players like Lee Elder and Calvin Peete, much the way Bramlett was influenced by Woods.

"I don't know why it's taken this long other than it's a byproduct of interest in the game, a byproduct of junior programs not lending themselves to minorities. But I think with programs like The First Tee for the last 10-15 years we're going to start to see a transition.

"I hope this starts another trend because it's important to our community."

Bramlett's father agrees.

"There are some men coming up that are exceptional players that will make it," Marlo Bramlett said. "But hopefully we look at it one day we look at this deal as 156 golfers, and not 156 golfers and one African-American and three of Asian descent, just 156 players.

"I hope we get there, I really do."

Early Monday evening, Stills hadn't yet heard from Bramlett, though he said he might because someone had asked for his cell phone number in case Bramlett wanted to call.

"What I'd like to say to him is you've proven you have the merit to be out there," Stills said. "Now do what you know how to do on that big stage."

Bramlett, like Stills, will finally get that opportunity.

Steve Ziegler ties for 12th in prestigious field of All-Americans

click to enlarge

Senior Steve Ziegler finished in a tie for 12th in an elite tournament of college All-Americans played in El Paso.  The event is known as the Western Refining College All-American Golf Classic and is considered one of the finest college events of the year.  Past champions include Tiger Woods, Davis Love III, Notah Begay and Matt Kuchar.

Steve had rounds of 73-68-68 in the event with the scoreboard included below --- click to enlarge the image.  The field included the current US Amateur champion, the current NCAA champion and 29 other top collegiate players from throughout the country.

The event was played at the El Paso Country Club.

Leaderboard - click to enlarge

With a field that includes the U.S. Amateur champion, the NCAA champion and the returning event champion, the 2010 Western Refining College All-America Golf Classic looks to have its deepest field ever when it begins play this weekend at El Paso Country Club.

Thirty-two of the nation’s premier collegiate golfers are headed to El Paso this weekend for the 36th edition of the tournament that features returning champion Hunter Hamrick of Alabama, 2010 U.S. Amateur Champion Peter Uihlein (Oklahoma State) and 2010 NCAA Champion Scott Langley (Illinois).
“This is an extraordinary field of collegiate golfers,” said Gary Hanson, tournament chairman. “Each year we strive to make this event better and better, but nothing makes the tournament better than a strong field of competitors. The Sun Bowl and our volunteers create a top quality event for the best college golfers in the world.”
The field includes seven of the top 11 amateur golfers in the world, according to the R&A World Amateur Golf Rankings – Oklahoma State’s Uihlein and Kevin Tway, Illinois’ Langley, Washington’s Chris Williams, Augusta State’s Patrick Reed, and Georgia’s Russell Henley and Harris English.
Last season, the Western Refining College All-America Golf Classic ranked as the No. 1 tournament in the country for the sixth consecutive season, according to the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index.
“Western Refining has done a great deal to take the nation’s No. 1 golf tournament to the next level,” said Bernie Olivas, Sun Bowl Association Executive Director. “We could not put on a tournament of this magnitude without the support of Western Refining. It has become a true ev

ent that the nation’s best want to attend. It could not be more evident that with the number and quality of competitors in this year’s field.”

Throughout the years, many Western Refining College All-America Golf Classic competitors have gone on to pursue successful careers in the Professional Golfers’ Association of America and on the PGA Tour. Some of the past champions include Ricky Barnes (2000), Notah Begay (1994), David Duval (1991), Matt Kuchar (1999), Davis Love III (1984), Chris Nallen (2003), Jerry Pate (1974), Nicholas Thompson (2004) and Tiger Woods (1995).
Alumni of the Golf Classic have gone on to earn more than $1.3 billion and win 540 events on the PGA Tour. In all, 139 colleges and universities have participated in the tournament, raising more than $670,000 in scholarship money for the participating institutions.

Each university is awarded a $1,000 scholarship if a golfer from that school competes in the tournament.

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.

Stanford finishes 2nd in the Gifford Collegiate at CordeValle

CordeValle GC in San Martin, CA

The Gifford Collegiate background can be found below as the most recent results will be posted first after each round.  CordeValle, the PGA Tour caliber host course, is located about 45 miles from the Stanford campus.

ROUND THREE SUMMARY - Stanford couldn't hold off surging UCLA over the final 6 holes finishing 2nd in the tournament despite leading by 11 strokes going into the final round.  UCLA ended up picking up 24 shots on the Cardinal in round 3 to win the event by 13 strokes.

The story was told over the final 6 holes with Stanford leading by 5 shots.  Over the last 6 holes the Cardinal was 16-over par collectively while UCLA was 2-under par, a difference of 18 shots.  Of special note was the final stretch by UCLA's Figueriedo finishing with 5 birdies and one bogie over the last 6 holes leading to his 66.

The Cardinal was led in the 3rd round by a solid 2-under 69 from frosh Cameron Wilson who finished with another top ten (77-70-69) in his excellent season thus far.  Next best on the day was Andrew Yun's 73 on  his way to a 15th place finish (74-71-73).  Sihwan Kim had a solid tournament finishing 6th overall after rounds of 71-68-74.  David Chung, in his first tourney of the year, finished tied for 9th despite a disappointing final day (69-68-79).  Steve Ziegler finished tied for 30th (77-71-76) as he was on his way to a fine 3rd round but finished 6-over on his final 6 holes.  Freshman Shane Lebow ended in 74th with rounds of 82-78-83.

Complete final round scoring can be found below.

3rd round scorecards - click to enlarge

Complete event scoring can be found here.  Now it's time off as the fall season has ended - the next event will be in early February on the island of Hawaii at the Mauna Lani Resort North course.  My guess is that this disappointing ending to the fall season will find the Cardinal that much hungrier to excel in the all important spring championship season.  Everyone will know exactly what they need to do to improve individually and as a team.  Watch out UCLA and the rest of the collegiate golfing world.

ROUND TWO SUMMARY - Stanford charged into the 2nd round lead by 12 shots over #1 ranked UCLA improving its scoring 20 strokes from round 1.  Leading the way with a pair of 3-under 68s were David Chung (69-68 2nd place individually) and Sihwan Kim (71-68 3rd place).  David and Sihwan each had 4 birdies and one bogie on the day.

Strong 2nd round play by Cameron Wilson (77-70 T19), Andrew Yun (74-71 T11) and Steve Ziegler (77-71 T24) completed the 5 players whose scores counted towards team play.  Freshman Shane Lebow also improved in round 2 (82-78 75th).

High fives all around after Andrew Yun's eagle on 18

David Chung finishes with birdie to cap off a great 68

It was a day of contrasts from round one as the team was 7-under (lowest of the day) vs. 13-over on day one,  recorded 19 birdies vs 10 in round 1, had 5 players even or under par vs. 2 on round 1, and the team played the par 5 3rd hole 3-under vs. 9-over on round 1.  Playing together, Andrew Yun eagled the 18th while David Chung birdied the par 5 finishing hole.

The 2nd day scorecards are found below --- click to enlarge the image.

Click to enlarge round 2 scorecards

ROUND ONE SUMMARY - The Cardinal is in 2nd place after the first round, one stroke behind #1 ranked UCLA.  Stanford was led by junior David Chung's 2-under 69, a round that has him in 2nd place individually, as his play was highlighted by a dramatic eagle 3 on the 18th hole.  Senior Sihwan Kim, a previous winner of this event in 2007 and a runner-up last year, shot a solid 71 putting him in 3rd place individually.

Next was Andrew Yun's 74, Steve Ziegler and Cameron Wilson's 77's and Shane Lebow's 82.  The best 5 out of 6 scores count leaving the Cardinal 13-over par as scores were high on this tough CordeValle course that is rated at 75.3 with a 144 slope.  The par 5 third hole proved to be the toughest challenge for the team as the team collectively had one par, two bogies, two double bogies and one triple bogey on this hole - the team was 9-over par on this one hole.  Only a total of 10 birdies and 1 eagle were recorded by the team.

First round scorecards can be found below --- click on the image to enlarge.

Click to enlarge 1st round scorecards

TOURNAMENT BACKGROUND:

Vineyards next to CordeValle

The 6-man team is set for the upcoming Gifford Collegiate tournament being played nearby at CordeValle  in San Martin, CA Nov 8-10.  This event will mark the 2010 debut of Stanford's All-American and US Amateur runner-up  David Chung, who just returned from Buenos Aires and the World Amateur where he represented the US on its 3-person team.  CordeValle GC was the site of a recent PGA Tour event won by Rocco Mediate.  Live tournament scoring by GolfStat is available.  See practice round videos below.

The team includes Andrew Yun, David Chung, Steve Ziegler, Cameron Wilson, Sihwan Kim and Shane Lebow.  The field of 12 teams includes 5 teams ranked in Golf Week's top 25 including #1 UCLA and #6 Augusta State.  Stanford is ranked #16 after it's first 3 tournaments played without top ranked All-American David Chung who returns from his recent play representing the US in the World Amateur in Buenos Aires.  The format for the event is unusual in that 6 players for each team compete with the 5 low scores each round counting towards the team score.  Typically 5 players compete with 4 scores counting.

During the practice round on Sunday, Nov 7, light rain moved in so the course should be playing longer with the softer conditions.  The weather is expected to clear during the tournament.

"Both as a team and for each individual player, this is the last chance we'll get to put it on show in 2010" Coach Ray said to his men following a team workout earlier this week; "it's time to make a statement ahead of the spring Championship season that is really not far away now".  Videos from the practice round are included below:

Team set for CordeValle Tourney & David Chung returns from World Amateur

CordeValle GC in San Martin, CA

The 6-man team is set for the upcoming Gifford Collegiate tournament being played nearby at CordeValle  in San Martin, CA.  This event will mark the 2010 debut of Stanford's All-American and US Amateur runner-up  David Chung, who just returned from Buenos Aires and the World Amateur where he represented the US on its 3-person team.  CordeValle GC was the site of a recent PGA Tour event won by Rocco Mediate.  Live tournament scoring by GolfStat is available.

The 6-man team includes Andrew Yun, David Chung, Steve Ziegler, Cameron Wilson, Sihwan Kim and Shane Lebow.  The team selection came as a result of a two-round qualifier and 3 coaches selections.  Here are the results of the recent qualifier:

1.  Sihwan Kim - 74-72 = 146
2.  Andrew Yun 71-76 = 147
3.  Cameron Wilson 73-75 = 148
3.  Shane Lebow 75-73 = 148
5.  Steve Ziegler 76-73 = 149
6.  Graham Brockington 75-76 = 151
7.  Steven Kearney 78-76 = 154
8.  Andre DeDecker 75-80 = 155
9.  Wilson Bowen 76-82 = 158

All-American David Chung makes his 2010 debut -- David Chung did not compete as he was returning from the World Amateur  being played in Buenos Aires where he helped the US finish in 3rd place behind France and Denmark.  David tied for 9th individually with rounds of 73-70-73 in tough conditions with pouring rain in much of the tournament.  Congratulations David on your selection and top play in this outstanding event.  Here are complete scores from the World Amateur.  |  The event's website can be found here.  |  Golf Week had excellent coverage of the event and David's outstanding 2nd round in pouring rain was chronicled in this article.

USGA photo in Golf Week's article about World Amateur