Stanford finishes 5th at the Prestige at PGA West in La Quinta, CA

gostanford.com - Final Round Results:

LA QUINTA, Calif. - Stanford shot one over par in the final round on Wednesday of the Prestige at PGA West on the Greg Norman Course.

The Cardinal (285-290-285) finished fifth at eight-over 860 (9 shots behind Washington and USC who tied for 1st).

Stanford frontrunners Cameron Wilson (67-72-74) and Andrew Yun (72-68-73) tied for seventh at an even-par 213, 8 behind Pedro Figueiredo of UCLA.

Wilson opened the tournament with a solid 67 after making four birdies and no bogeys. Despite the windy conditions, he shot one over in the second round to stay in contention for the title. The junior, however, fell a few spots n the third round after a three-over finish.

As for Yun, his best round in the tournament came with the winds. The senior shot a 68 in the second round after carding five birdies. His one-over and two-over finishes in the second and third rounds kept him on par.

Sophomore Patrick Rodgers (70, 76, 69) came in two strokes behind his teammates at 215, tying for 15th. He had three birdies and an eagle in the final round.

Rounding out the lineup senior Steve Kearney (76-79-69) finished tied for 51st at 224 while freshman David Boote (76-74-78) tied for 65th at 228.

Freshman Dominick Francks (77-73-74) led the Cardinal individuals for the final two rounds, tying for 51st at 224. Andre DeDecker (73-80-76), a redshirt junior, finished tied for 69th at 229. At 78th was sophomore Patrick Grimes (71-87-76) at 234 and tied for 81st was Shane Lebow (76-91-73) at 240.

gostanford.com - Round Two Results:

LA QUINTA, Calif. - Stanford stands in fifth place at six-over-par 290, after the second round Wednesday morning at the Prestige at PGA West on the Greg Norman Course.
Due to darkness, Tuesday's second round finished Wednesday morning after eight groups teed off at 7 a.m.
Under very windy conditions, Washington and UCLA were the only two teams to shoot under par, sharing a first-place lead at 565. The Cardinal trails by 10 strokes.
Senior Andrew Yun led Stanford in the second round after recording a three-under-par 68. Yun birdied the second, eighth, 10th, 11th, and 14th holes.
"The conditions were tough," said Yun (72-68), who currently ties for sixth at 140. "I practiced hitting some low shots, keeping it underneath the wind and trying to manage my game as best as I can. Luckily I executed all of the shots I wanted to hit and kept it in play, which was really key."
Cardinal frontrunner Cameron Wilson (67-72) shot one over to tie for fourth at 139. An early double bogey derailed the start of his front nine but the junior made a birdie on the eighth, 11th, and 12th to keep his lead.
Shooting five over, sophomore Patrick Rodgers (70-76) finished the second round tied for 26th.
Freshman David Boote (76-74) tied for 52nd while senior Steve Kearney (76-79) finished in 73rd.
The Cardinal individuals were led by freshman Dominick Francks (77-73) who shot two over to tie for 52nd. Redshirt juniorAndre DeDecker (73-80) finished tied for 63rd. Tying for 77th was sophomore Patrick Grimes (71-87). Junior Shane Lebow (76-91) finished at 87th in the second round.
More winds greet the 15-team field on Wednesday.
"You just have to keep the ball down and take the spin off of it," said Yun. "For the most part, the hardest thing to do is keeping the ball in play off the tee because the driver goes the farthest so it's the most likely to get off line especially in the wind."


gostanford.com - Round One Results
LA QUINTA, Calif. - Stanford is tied for seventh place at one-over-par 285, after the opening round on Tuesday morning at the Prestige at PGA West on the Greg Norman Course.
Monday's first round was halted due to darkness and play resumed Tuesday morning. The remaining 10 groups teed off at 8 a.m. and finished soon after the first group in the second round began at 10 a.m.
Junior Cameron Wilson led Stanford with a four-under-par 67 after four birdies and no bogeys, tying for first.
"I got off to a good start and made a bunch of putts on the front nine," said Wilson who birdied the second, fifth, eighth, and 13th holes. "In the back nine, I hit the ball much better but I couldn't make any birdie putts. I made a lot of good decisions and I didn't put myself in too much trouble."
Under ideal conditions, five teams shot under par in the first round with TCU in first with a 278, seven strokes ahead of the Cardinal.
"All in all it was a decent start," said The Knowles Family Director of Golf Conrad Ray. "I think the tournament will get a little interesting based on the weather forecast. It's supposed to get a little windy in the next couple of days and the course changes a lot with the wind. We'll just wake up tomorrow and see what it brings, and keep working hard."
Sophomore Patrick Rodgers carded two consecutive birdies on the eighth and ninth holes to head one over into the back nine where he made two more birdies on the 16th and 18th. Rodgers finished the round with a 70, tying for 11th.
Andrew Yun, the senior from Chandler, Ariz., recorded a 72 for a tie in 28th. Rounding out the field are freshman David Booteand senior Steve Kearney, tied for 64th at 76.
"The course is fairly simple in many terms until the wind gets up so the guys should try to keep it in the fairway and plan to play two under par," said Philip Rowe, Stanford Enlight Foundation Assistant Coach, about a good team score on the Greg Norman Course. "That adds up to eight or 10 under par as a team. When the wind gets up, though, that's when the scores start separating."
For the individuals competing for the Cardinal, sophomore Patrick Grimes leads with 71, tying for 21st. Redshirt junior Andre DeDecker finished at 73 for 47th. Junior Shane Lebow tied for 64th at 76 and freshman Dominick Francks tied for 72nd at 77.
With the second round comes another test.
"I think today one key for me was being very patient," said Wilson. "There's so many birdie holes that if you leave a couple out there, you can get frustrated so just trying to stay as patient as I can be."






gostanford.com Stories: Pre-Tournament

LA QUINTA, Calif. - Stanford, up one spot to No. 14 (Golfweek), takes on a 15-team field on Monday at the 13th annual Prestige at PGA West, a tournament co-hosted by the Cardinal and UC Davis on the Greg Norman Course.

This 54-hole event is the 13th annual Prestige at PGA West. There will be three rounds from February 18-20. Live scoring will be available on GameBook.

Eleven teams return from the Amer Ari Invitational, including No. 4 Washington and No. 6 UCLA, who tied for first at 22-under-par 842. No. 13 Texas Christian took third at 849, while No. 8 USC carded an 850 tying for fourth. Stanford placed seventh at 852.

"We talked a lot about dialing in our wedge games and proximity to the hole with scoring clubs," said The Knowles Family Director of Golf Conrad Ray about the practice week leading up to the Prestige. "[We] talked about treating each day as a mini tournament in itself."

Ray starts a lineup featuring sophomore Patrick Rodgers, senior Andrew Yun, senior Steve Kearney, junior Cameron Wilson, and freshman David Boote.

Junior Shane Lebow, freshman Dominick Francks, redshirt junior Andre DeDecker, and sophomore Patrick Grimes compete as individuals for the Cardinal.

"For this week I'm trying to hit a fade (left to right) on almost every shot," said Rodgers. "This course sets up for that shot especially off the tee, and ball control around here is critical for success."

Stanford won the team event in 2006 and has produced two individual champions, Zach Miller (2006) and James Lee (2000).

"My goal this week is to have great balance and a positive attitude," said Yun. "My key words are "slow flow.'"

Cardinal returns to action on the Big Island in Hawaii

Final Round Story | Round 2 Story | Round 1 Story | Live Scoring by GolfStat | Stanford Daily article | Waikoloa Beach Kings Course | Practice Round Videos

Round 3 Results (quotes from gostanford.com)
The Cardinal shot the lowest final round of the day, an 8-under par 280 to move up to a 7th place finish only 3 strokes out of third place.  The team finished the tournament 10 strokes behind UCLA and Washington who tied for first place overall, picking up 7 strokes on the lead in the final round.  Stanford shot progressively better each round scoring 287-285-280 team totals.  Only a couple of late bogies and a double bogey kept the Cardinal from finishing in 3rd place.

Final Team Standings - click to enlarge

Senior, Steven Kearney

Certainly the week's highlight for Stanford was the breakout tournament performance by senior Steven Kearney who finished with a 5-under 67 to tie for 4th overall, his best career finish in a college tournament.  Steven's final round included 7 birdies and only 2 bogies.  Steven had rounds of 69-72-67 for a 8-under 208 total.  Well done!  The rest of the season looks bright with all five starters capable of competing for an individual title in any event.

 "My short game was pretty good in this tournament," said Kearney who shot seven birdies today for a five-under, his best round of the tournament. "My driving accuracy was definitely one of my strong points. I only missed a few fairways these last three days and that really set me up to play well."  "I'd like to keep going with the momentum I had right now," said Kearney. "If I keep working on that putting, I feel like I could really shoot well next week in Palm Springs and help out the team again."

Three Stanford players shot 1-under 71s in the final round, Cameron Wilson (74-71-71 216 T33), David Boote (73-72-71 216 T33) and Patrick Rodgers (77-79-71 281 T49).  Andrew Yun had a final round 72 to finish tied for 26th overall (71-72-72 215).  Playing as an individual Shane Lebow finished tied for 70th with rounds of 74-76-72-222.  "Overall I thought my game and my mental game was pretty good," said Yun. "I know there are some aspects of my game that I need to work on like iron shots and putting in general."

"We had some solid scores," said Philip Rowe, Stanford Enlight Foundation Assistant Coach. "Those one under pars were challenging in the breeze. Each player probably felt like they left a few shots out there, so there's plenty to work on."  "We had it going actually with a few holes left, but we gave a couple back in the end when we turned back into the wind on this course," said The Knowles Family Director of Golf Conrad Ray. "We're happy with the way the guys battled today. We wish we were a few slots up in the leaderboard but that's golf and it is awful close."

Next up is a short turnaround in at the PGA West courses at La Quinta, in the Palm Springs area, in the Prestige co-hosted by Stanford and played Feb 18-20.

Third round scorecards can be found below --- click to enlarge.

3rd round scorecards - click to enlarge

Round 2 Results
Stanford improved on its first round results by two shots, with a 285 3-under par team total but found itself moving backwards and not forwards in this strong field.  Washington now leads the 9th place Cardinal by 17 strokes after it shot a team total of 275.

Steady play by all five golfers resulted in a 70 by Patrick Rodgers, a 71 by David Boote and three 72's by Steven Kearney, Cameron Wilson and Andrew Yun.  It will take a top notch final round to move the Cardinal up in the highly ranked field.

After two rounds Kearney is tied for 16th at 141, Yun is tied for 30th at 143, Wilson and Boote are tied for 45th at 145 and Rodgers is tied for 65th at 147.  Shane Lebow is tied for 89th at 150.

Quotes below are from gostanford.com stories:

Two early birdies and an eagle pushed Rodgers to a two-under-par 70 leading the team on the second day. Rodgers, who was overcome by bogeys at the start of the tournament, came back strong after an initial five-over-par finish.  "I was comfortable with my game [in the first round] but things just didn't go my way," said Rodgers who is tied for 65th at three under par. "So in the second round, I just tried to continue feeling comfortable, hitting good shots, and capitalizing on the opportunities. I got off to a pretty shaky start, missed a few putts, but didn't hit the ball quite as well as I did yesterday, [although] I did a much better job at managing my round and scoring better."

Wilson, who was facing a two-over-par deficit, finished one-under with four birdies on the front nine to tie him for 45th. "My goal was to be very patient with myself," said Wilson. "The rounds were long and with the green grass around the green there's potential to get a few weird bounces. My goal was to be patient, accepting of the bounces good or bad, and take advantage of the par-5s."

"The guys battled hard and made a lot of nice pars," said The Knowles Family Director of Golf Conrad Ray. "We needed a little bit more offense today. I think they felt like they could have made a little bit more birdies while some other teams went lower than we did. I think it all evens out in the end."  "I think they managed their mental games in fashion today and hopefully they'll come out aggressive tomorrow with a lot of confidence," said Ray. "We haven't played our best round of the tournament yet and we're waiting for that tomorrow."

"I had a couple of birdies early on and unfortunately could not finish it off in the end with a couple of silly bogies," said Boote. "But it was an improvement by one shot from yesterday so I'm fairly happy."

Day two scorecards can be viewed below - click to enlarge.

Round Two scorecards - click to enlarge

Round 1 Results

Steven Kearney

Stanford finds itself tied for 8th against a very strong field, 10 strokes behind leading TCU after a 1-under team total of 287 in the first round.  The Cardinal was led by Steven Kearney's 3-under par 69 (T10) whose solid round included an eagle on 18, two birdies and only one bogey.  "I hit a really good drive down the middle," said Kearney about the eagle at the par-five 18th. "The short side was left there so we decided to hit a 6-iron because the downwind would hit it to about 20 feet. Then I finally made a good putt, put a good stroke on it, made it on the right edge and it fell in there."  "My goal today was just fairways and greens," said Kearney. "If the putts fall, then the putts fall."

Andrew Yun finished at 1-under par 71 after posting 5 birdies and 4 bogies.  "I birdied two of the par-5s by hitting on two and two putting," said Yun who finished with five birdies for one under par, putting him 23rd overall. "For the other ones I hit, my second shot was within 10 feet and I just made the putt."

David Boote was 4 under par in his round at one point but ended with a double bogey, bogey-bogey finish for a 73.  Cameron Wilson's 74 included four birdies but also 4 bogies and a double bogey on #13.  Patrick Rodgers' 77 included an uncharacteristic 5 bogies and a double to offset his two birdies.  Playing as an individual, Shane Lebow had a 2-over 74 total.

"We had a lot of few easy opportunities get away from us on the course but we're still within striking distance with a couple of rounds left," said The Knowles Family Director of Golf Conrad Ray. "[Holes] 10 through 13 is a big stretch and we start around that area tomorrow. If we play those holes well and the guys manage their mental games well, we'll be in good shape for the last two days."

Individual scorecards from round 1 are included below:

Round 1 scorecards - click to enlarge

Tournament Background
The Cardinal returns to action on the beautiful Kona side of the Big Island of Hawaii at the Waikoloa Beach King's Course as they send their strongest squad of the season to compete against a top field featuring 5 of the top 10 teams in the country. Top 20 teams with rankings include Texas (#2), Washington (#6), UCLA (#7), USC (#8), Georgia Tech (#10), Oklahoma St. (#14), Stanford (#15) and TCU (#16).

Andrew Yun, 2-time senior All-American, returns to the squad after taking the fall quarter off to try to qualify for the PGA Tour.  Having just missed qualifying, Andrew brings a wealth of talent and experience to the young team.  First team All-American sophomore Patrick Rodgers, ranked as one of the world's top amateurs, looks to continue his outstanding fall play which included two individual wins.

Rounding out the team are junior Cameron Wilson, looking to follow up his course record breaking 61 and second place finish at CordeValle in November, freshman David Boote from England who had three top 10 finishes in the fall, and senior Steven Kearney coming off strong play in qualifying for this event.  Junior Shane Lebow will be competing as a junior.

David Boote makes the grade & team service project

Some recent news on the break about the team:

1.  DAVID BOOTE MAKES THE GRADE --- Golf Week recently graded out the top freshman across the country and David earned top marks with his fine fall season. Here's what they had to say about David ... we hope his school marks are nearly this good.

David Boote, Stanford

Golfweek/Sagarin rank: 18

Prerequisites: The Surrey, England, native won the Welsh Boys National U-18 Championship and was captain of the 2011 Great Britain and Ireland team at the Jaques Leglise Trophy.

First semester report: Boote racked up three top 10s in four tournaments this fall. He was T-7 at the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational, T-3 at the Pac-12 Preview and T-9 at the Gifford Collegiate. His fourth start wasn’t too bad, either, as he finished T-13 at the U.S. Collegiate. His 71.3 stroke average is second on the team behind Patrick Rodgers (70.4).

Final grade: A

2.  SERVICE PROJECT - The team participates in a service project at a Boy's/Girl's Club in East Palo Alto.  Here's a photo of team members with the women's water polo team and a December 5th response to each team member from the organizer after their work was done.  Well done team!

click on photo to enlarge

"We hope you all had a great experience at the GOALS/Boys & Girls Club program last night.  I've already gotten some really positive feedback from the organizations about how much of an impact you spending the afternoon with the kids had!  They are all talking about how they want to be student-athletes at Stanford, which is helping their coaches teach them goal-setting skills."

Stanford Announces Three National Letter of Intent Signings

STANFORD, Calif. - The Stanford University men's golf program has signed Jim Liu, Maverick McNealy, and Viraat Badhwar to NCAA letters of intent in the 2013 incoming freshman class, announced The Knowles Family Director of Men's Golf Conrad Ray.  This diverse class includes two players nationally ranked #1 in their respective countries and a home grown phenom who first won the Stanford men's club championship at age 13.

Maverick McNealy is the tenth-ranked player in California according to the Junior Golf Scoreboard and will be graduating from The Harker School in San Jose, Calif. in the spring. A three-time Stanford University Golf Club Men's Champion, McNealy placed third at the 2012 NCGA Junior Amateur at Spyglass Hill. Maverick won the 2012 Stanford club championship with his last three rounds of 69-69-67.  He was also a quarterfinalist at the 2012 U.S. Junior Amateur Championship and 2012 NCGA Amateur Match Play tournament at Spyglass Hill. He is the current course record holder at Sharon Heights Country Club in Menlo Park, CA after carding a 65 (-7).

Viraat Badhwar will join the Cardinal from Queensland, Australia, where he is the No. 1-ranked junior golfer in Australia and a student at Kelvin Grove State College. A member of the Australian Junior Golf Squad in 2012, Badhwar has a USGA handicap of +4. He won the 2012 Toyota Junior Golf World Cup in Japan leading Australia to the World Cup title with a 12-under par 72-68-65-67 performance.  Viraat was the runner-up at the 2012 Australian Boys Amateur Championship. Badhwar was ranked as the #1 junior golfer in India from 2005 to 2007 before moving to Australia. Badhwar also recently was awarded the Platinum Award from Kelvin Grove State College for excellence in golf and academics.

Jim Liu, from Smithtown, NY is the No. 1 ranked high school golfer by Golfweek and the Junior Golf Scoreboard. Liu will graduate from The Knox School in Nissequogue, N.Y. in the spring. Liu is a four-time consecutive AJGA Rolex All-American, and was a member of two victorious junior Ryder Cup teams in 2010 and 2012. Liu advanced through the first stage of qualifying school for the 2012 European Tour, and has collected every USGA Junior Amateur Championship medal (gold, silver, stroke-play, medalist and sectional qualifying medalist). He surpassed Tiger Woods' record at the U.S. Junior Amateur, becoming the youngest champion in the tournaments' history in 2010. Liu also was the runner-up at the 2012 U.S. Junior Amateur Championship and is a four-time U.S. Kids World champion. 
"The 2013 Stanford Men's Golf recruiting class may go down as the strongest in our programs history," said Ray. "When we are able to sign a single No. 1-ranked player in a given year it is a big deal, but to have two is very rare. The rigorous nature of the Stanford admissions process is well known and it is a credit to these student-athletes that they have been admitted and are making a great choice in Stanford University. We are very excited to add Maverick, Jim, and Viraat to the Cardinal roster in 2013 to continue our pursuit of the programs ninth national championship."

Stanford finishes 2nd led by Cameron Wilson's record breaking 61

Interview with Cameron Wilson on his 61 | Live Scoring | CordeValle CC | Stanford Team | SF Examiner on Wilson's Course Record

Final Results
Stanford ended the tournament in 2nd, 8 strokes behind UCLA, following a steady 3rd round played under tougher conditions than the first two days.  The Cardinal was led by Cameron Wilson (61-74-74 209 2nd) who finished in 2nd place individually, only 2 shots behind the winner, Rick Lamb of Tennessee.  As indicated below, Cameron's remarkable 61 in round 1 was a course record and ties for the best round ever shot by a Stanford player in collegiate competition -  Tiger Woods was the other player with a 61 shot in 1996.

Patrick Rodgers (72-70-72 214 T9) and  David Boote (72-71-71 214 T9) both tied for 9th in the event, the 3rd time in 4 tournaments this season that both have had top 10 finishes.  Dominic Francks finished tied for 20th (74-69-75 218 T20), while Steven Kearney (74-77-72 223 T41) and Shane Lebow (79-71-73 223 T41) both tied for 41st.

Patrick Grimes, playing as an individual, had a solid tournament as he tied for 16th (76-66-75 217 T16) highlighted by his fine 66, the tournament's second lowest round, shot in round two.  Freshman Keegan English finished in 67th place (80-78-75 233 67th) in his first event for the Cardinal.  The fall season is over --- next up is the Hawaii tourney in February.  3rd round scorecards are included below:

3rd round scorecards - click to enlarge

Second Round Results
Stanford remained in 2nd place, but fell 11 shots behind UCLA, after a steady even par round led by a solid 2-under 69 by freshman Dominick Francks (74-69 T14).  Dominick's round was unusual in that he had no bogies to go along with 2 birdies.  Cameron Wilson followed up his course record 61 with a 3 over 74, but remains in first place individually at 7 under par (61-74 135 1st).  It's a very common pattern to see an outstanding round followed by a mediocre one so hopefully Cameron can return to form for the final round.

All-American Patrick Rodgers had a 70 highlighted by birdies on his last 4 holes (72-70 142 T9).  Solid even par 71s were shot by freshman David Boote (72-71 143 T14) and Shane Lebow (79-71 150 T50) while Steven Kearney settled for a 77 (74-77 151 T54).  The team scorecards are shown below:

2nd round scorecards - click to enlarge

Competing individually, sophomore Patrick Grimes had a very strong 2nd round firing a 5-under 66 and he stands tied for 9th individually (76-66 142).  Patrick's round included 4 birdies, 1 eagle and only one bogey.  Freshman Keegan English is in 71st place after his 2nd round 78 (80-78 158).  Patrick fine round is included below:

Patrick Grimes shoots 66 - click to enlarge

First Round Results

Stanford is in 2nd place as a team, led by an historic, 10-under 61 recorded by junior Cameron Wilson.  The 61 is a new course record at CordeValle, beating PGA Tour pros Nick O'Hern and John Malinger who both shot 62  at this year's Frys.com Open.  Cameron ties Tiger Woods, who also shot a 61 in 1996, for the lowest round ever shot by a Cardinal player in a collegiate tournament.

"Cameron's round today was one of the best in Stanford's golf program history," The Knowles Family Director of Men's Golf Conrad Ray told reporters. "Cameron seemed very comfortable from the first tee shot today. This is his third year competing in the Gifford Intercollegiate Golf Championship, and he likes the CordeValle course."  "Cameron carried us today," said Ray. "We know what he's capable of, and he really showed that out there."

Cameron's round included 11 birdies, 7 on the front nine and a lone bogey leading to a 30, and 4 more on the back nine leading to a 31.  Cameron leads the field on the tough CordeValle links by a full 7 strokes.  Cameron's record scorecard is shown below - click to enlarge:

Cameron Wilson's record tying 61 at CordeValle Nov 2012

Patrick Rodgers and David Boote shot 1-over 72s with Patrick's round marred by a double on 15 and bogies on 16 and 17.  Dominick Francks and Steven Kearney each had 74 and Shane Lebow had a 79.  Patrick Grimes shot 76 and Keegan English an 80 playing as individuals.  The team trails UCLA by 3 strokes.

First round scorecards for the team can be found below:

First round scorecards

Backround

STANFORD, Calif. - The # 17 (Golfstat) Stanford men's golf team wraps up its fall schedule next week as the team travels to CordeValle to compete in the Gifford Collegiate Championship hosted by UCLA. The Cardinal is part of a 10-team field that includes the # 5 Bruins, # 8 USC, # 12 Arkansas, #13 SMU, # 24 Northwestern, Oregon State, Tennessee, Coastal Carolina and Lamar. 

The event begins Monday, November 5 and concludes on Wednesday, November 7.

This is the eighth annual event, which honors longtime sponsor and UCLA golf supporter Jack Gifford. Six-man teams will compete in the 54-hole stroke play event, with the five best individual scores in each round counting. The Robert Trent Jones, Jr. designed course will play to 7,282 yards with a par-72 layout.

The Knowles Family Director of Men's Golf Conrad Ray will field a lineup of Patrick Rodgers, winner of two events this season, Cameron Wilson, Dominick Francks, Shane Lebow, Steve Kearney and David Boote.  Patrick Grimes and Keegan English will participate as individuals.  Keegan English, a freshman from Milwaukee and son of former Cardinal golfer Pat English '83, is making his first appearance in a tournament for the Cardinal.

Stanford finished sixth at last year's event, with Rodgers tying for tenth. USC won the team competition, and Trojan Steve Lim captured the individual title. 

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.