Stanford finishes 4th at the USC Invitational

The Cardinal finishes 4th at the USC Invitational as summarized below led by the outstanding play of sophomore Andrew Yun.  Next up will be a big tournament in Greensboro, NC at the end of March.

The USC Invitational was Feb 28 and March 1 at North Ranch CC in Westlake Village, CA.  Live scoring by GolfStat is available for the event that as usual has attracted a very strong field.  Some background on the tournament can be found on USC's website.  The 15-team field includes Arizona State, BYU, California, Cal State Northridge, Fresno State, Michigan, Oregon, Pepperdine, San Diego, San Diego State, Stanford, UC Davis, UCLA, USC and Washington.

Stanford is represented by Andrew Yun, David Chung, Steve Ziegler, Cameron Wilson and Sihwan Kim and is hoping to bounce back from a disappointing tournament in Hawaii.  Stanford won this event in 2009 when Steve Ziegler was the low individual finisher.

This link will take you to practice round videos provided by Coach Phil Rowe.  I've included 2 out of the many videos of each Stanford player.

SECOND AND THIRD ROUNDS
Stanford ends in 4th place behind San Diego State, UCLA and Oregon, finishing 13 shots behind.  Andrew Yun led the way tying for 5th individually as he continued his strong play this season with steady rounds of 70-70-71.

David Chung tied for 35th on rounds of 74-75-71, Cameron Wilson was tied for 44th after his 68-72-82, Steve Ziegler was tied for 51st shooting 73-80-72 and Sihwan Kim tied for 70th on rounds of 83-72-75.

As shown by the scores, golf can be a very uneven challenge as demonstrated by Cameron's brilliant first round 68 with four birdies and 3 bogies contrasted with his third round 82 including 8 bogies and a double bogie with no birdies.  Only Andrew Yun found a way to play steady golf throughout.

Final round scorecards - click to enlarge

FIRST ROUND
After round one Stanford is in 6th place, but only 5 shots behind the leader UCLA.  Freshman Cameron Wilson led the way with a 68, followed by Andrew Yun with 70, Steve Ziegler with 73, David Chung with 74 and Sihwan Kim's 83.

Scorecards for each player can be found below:

Round One Scorecards for Stanford - click to enlarge

Photos from match play at Cypress Point vs USC - won by Stanford 4.5-1.5

Here are a few photos provided by Coach Ray from the rainy day at Cypress Point in a match won by the Cardinal over USC 4.5-1.5.  At the bottom are two videos provided by Coach Rowe - click on the videos to see higher quality views on You Tube. Results of each match can be found on the previous blog posting.

Steve Ziegler & Andrew Yun on the 16th

Cameron Wilson and David Chung on the 16th

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Shane Lebow & Sihwan Kim on the 16th

The 15th green - click to enlarge

Coach Phil Rowe must feel like he's home in France in this weather

Cypress Point is venue for Stanford's 4.5-1.5 match play win over USC

Feb. 18, 2011

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. - Against one the most breathtaking settings in all of golf, Stanford's men's golf team downed USC, 4.5 to 1.5 in a match play event held at the Cypress Point Golf Club in Pebble Beach.  To see more photos from Coach Ray go to the next blog posting.

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Steve Ziegler, Cameron Wilson, David Chung and Sihwan won their matches while Andrew Yun halved his.

Stanford resumes its tournament schedule on Feb. 28 at the USC Invitational, held at the North Ranch Country Club in Westlake Village.

Here are the individual scores:

Andrew Yun halved with Jeffrey Kang
Steve Ziegler beat TJ Vogel 1up
Cameron Wilson beat Stewart Hagestad 6&4
David Chung beat Sam Smith 4&3
Shane Lebow lost to Ramsey Sahyoun  2&1
Sihwan Kim beat Bo DeHuff 4&3.

Stanford 4.5, USC 1.5


Here's a link to a video of Sihwan Kim's shot to 16 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2EputUC96U&feature=youtube_gdata_player.
Here's a link to a video of Steve Ziegler's great shot to 16 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Emmv6BMSNYA&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Steve Ziegler and Andrew Yun on the 16th tee

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.