Stanford finishes 6th and fails to advance at the NCAA Indiana Region

FINAL RESULTS - Stanford just missed advancing to the NCAA Finals, finishing 6th, 4 shots out of the 5th spot needed to continue its season.  It was a disappointing final event for the Cardinal team which found itself 28 shots behind the surging Michigan team that won the regional.   Junior David Chung led the way tying for 11th at an even par 213 total.

Despite the disappointing final result, hats off to Andrew Yun for his outstanding season which surely will earn him All-American honors, to the steadily improving play of senior Graham Brockington and sophomore Steven Kearney and to the excellent leadership of captain Steve Ziegler.

Freshman Cameron Wilson had a very strong first season and shows great promise while junior David Chung provided excellent contributions and special drama for Cardinal fans with his Masters appearance.  Senior Sihwan Kim's brilliant Stanford career was cut short due to a lingering back injury while Shane Lebow and Wilson Bowen showed encouraging signs of strong play this season.  Andre De Decker, although not playing in a tournament this year, showed flashes of solid play in practice and can be a contributor next season.

In other regionals five Pac 10 teams advanced to the NCAA finals.

Stanford's final regional team leader board, player totals and final round scorecards is found below:

Final leaderboard - click to enlarge

Final Player Results - click to enlarge

Final round scorecards

ROUND 2 RESULTS - Stanford moves to 5th place after two rounds, led by junior David Chung, with only 5 teams advancing to the NCAA Finals.  Looks to be a 4-team competition for the 4th and 5th spots as Stanford has a 6-stroke lead on Charlotte in 6th place.  The overall team standings are below:

Round 2 Team Standings - click to enlarge

Round 2 Player Scores - click to enlarge

Round 2 Scorecards - click to enlarge

ROUND 1 RESULTS - Stanford ended in 4th place after the first round at the NCAA Indiana Regional played at Wolf Run Golf Club.  Complete results can be found below showing all team scores, Stanford's player scoring and overall finish plus individual scorecards for each player.  Five teams advance to the NCAA Finals to be held at the home course of top ranked Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Oklahoma May 31-June 5.

Round 1 Player Scoring - click to enlarge

Round 1 Scorecards - click to enlarge

Round 1 Team Scoring - click to enlarge

Wolf Run Golf Club in Zionsville, Indiana

Competing for Stanford in the NCAA Midwest Region at the Wolf Run Golf Club in Zionsville, Indiana are Andrew Yun, David Chung, Steve Ziegler, Graham Brockington and Steven Kearney.  Live scoring can be found at Golfstat.com.  The low five teams out of the 13 competing teams advance.  With national Golf Week rankings in parentheses, Stanford (21) is seeded #4 in this region behind Alabama (3), Illinois (11) and Iowa (18), followed by Tennessee (23), Wake Forest (26), Indiana (37), Florida State (41), Michigan (53), Memphis (63), Wichita St. (112), Missouri (120) and Sacred Heart (212).

The pre-event story below was posted on our gostanford.com website about Stanford earning the 4th seed in the Indiana Region --- http://www.gostanford.com/sports/m-golf/spec-rel/050911aab.html.  The official NCAA website --- http://www.ncaa.com/news/golf-men/2011-05-09/regional-participants-announced --- shows all the seeded teams and their assigned locations.  Here is the Indiana Regional information.

Eight Pac 10 teams earned bids with UCLA a #1 seed, USC a #3 seed, Stanford, Cal, ASU and Oregon #4 seeds, Washington a #6 seed and Arizona a #11 seed.  Five teams in each of the six regions will advance to the finals to be held at the home course of top ranked Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Oklahoma May 31-June 5.

May 9, 2011

STANFORD, Calif. - The NCAA Division I Men's Golf Committee has selected the teams and individuals to participate in the 2011 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships and Stanford has earned the fourth seed in the Indiana Region, to be held May 19-21 at the Wolf Run Golf Club in Zionsville, Ind.

It marks the second straight year the Cardinal has began its quest for a ninth national championship in the state of Indiana. Last season, Stanford captured the Central Regional held at the Warren Course in South Bend.

Joining Stanford in the Indiana Region (in order of seeding) are Alabama, Illinois, Iowa, Wake Forest, Tennessee, Indiana, Florida State, Michigan, Charlotte, Memphis, Wichita State, Missouri-Kansas City and Sacred Heart.

The low five teams and the low individual not on those teams from each regional will advance to the finals to be held at Karsten Creek in Stillwater, Okla., May 31-June 5.

Stanford, coming off a fourth place finish at the Pac-10 Men's Championships, has won eight national titles, with the last title coming in 2007.

About the Wolf Run Golf Club
Wolf Run Golf Club --- http://wolfrungc.com/ --- was conceived in the early 1980's by the late Dr. Jack Leer, a local dentist and successful amateur golfer whose dream was to build a demanding, world-class golf club for serious golfers.

Dr. Leer wanted to craft a course employing the strength and beauty of the natural landscape while emulating the unique theories of 1920's design. To create his vision, Leer turned to Steve Smyers, an accomplished player and well-traveled student of the legendary architects and the golf courses that they created.

The course construction began in 1987 at the heavily wooded 218-acre site featuring meadowlands, a large bluff cutting across the entire tract, and Eagle Creek winding through the property. "We didn't move a lot of earth but built the course using the existing landscape," said Smyers. Dr. Leer desired his course to be so challenging and dramatic that it would attract a membership of top players from around the country. 

Soon after its opening in 1989, Wolf Run received high praise from some of golf's greatest players and the course acquired a reputation for being too tough for the average golfer. After touring the course for the first time, Gary Player said, "Wolf Run is the best new course I've seen in twenty years." Nick Faldo played the course and told Smyers that Wolf Run had more variety than any course he'd ever seen. Faldo stated holes twelve through fifteen were "the most demanding yet fairest of any golf course I've ever seen." By years end, Wolf Run acquired a course rating of 74.3 and a slope of 151 from the back tees, which resulted in being considered among the toughest courses in the country.

The golf course is as diverse as its scenery, yet tests every facet of the player's ability. With narrow fairways and firm, fast greens surrounded by dramatic and strategic bunkering, players quickly realize that all the shots are required to play Wolf Run. Wolf Run's par three holes require intense strategy and range from a short, downhill shot of 132 yards to a small green that boarders Eagle Creek to another that requires the player to carry his tee shot more than 230 yards from a severe drop off to a green heavily surrounded by deep bunkers. Many of the par four holes demand long drives and carefully carved approaches to small targets, while others require precision in order for the player to find the best angle to attack the pin. Holes three, ten, and seventeen make up the par fives and are as beautiful, yet as challenging as any in America. As a result, Wolf Run is a thinking man's course, where a player at the top of his game would be offered strategic and at times heroic options on every hole.


Through the years, the course has been modified to take out some of the bite that the original design presented. However, the course is still quite demanding with a current course rating of 74.2 and a slope of 143. In 2003, Smyers renovated the course, which entailed the lengthening of several tees, the addition of several new bunkers to recreate the original design of certain holes, and finally the redesign of the 13th green.


Wolf Run is one of the Midwest's best kept secrets. There are few places that offer beauty and uniqueness while testing the player to his highest capabilities. Wolf Run is as finely balanced and strategically sound as it is challenging, which has lead to several awards and praise from the golfing community. Wolf Run is currently occupying the #18 position in Golfweek's America's 100 Best Modern Courses. -- Courtesy of Wolf Run Golf Club

Andrew Yun named to the All-Pac 10 first team by conference coaches

click to enlarge

The following article appeared on the gostanford.com website - http://www.gostanford.com/sports/m-golf/spec-rel/050911aaa.html honoring Andrew Yun as an All-Pac 10 first team performer for his great 2010-11 season.  


Andrew is currently ranked #2 by Golf Week/Sagarin --- http://www.golfweekrankings.com/ellington/default.asp?t=mi --- among all collegiate golfers behind only Peter Uihlein of Oklahoma State, and ahead of the Pac 10 player of the year, Patrick Cantlay of UCLA.  


Andrew has a stroke average of 70.6, about 3 strokes lower than any other Stanford player this season, and he has one win and 7 top 10 finishes with a low round of 64.  He finished 4th in the recent Pac 10 championship held at Stanford.  See Andrew's summary results --- http://stanfordmensgolf.com/players.htm ---  this year along with the rest of Stanford's players.


May 9, 2011

STANFORD, Calif. - Stanford's Andrew Yun was named to the 2011 All-Pac-10 Men's Golf Team on Monday, as selected in a vote of the conference coaches.


Yun, who has seven Top 5 finishes amonmg his 10 starts this season, including his first intercollegiate title, was Stanford's lone representative on the all-conference team.


Patrick Cantlay of UCLA was named the Pac-10 Men's Golfer of the Year and Pac-10 Freshman of the Year, while UCLA's Derek Freeman was tabbed Pac-10 Coach of the Year.


Other first team honorees included Gregor Main of UCLA, Daniel Miernicki of Oregon, Alex Moore of Oregon State, Scott Pinckney of Arizona State, Martin Trainer of USC, Pontus Widegren of UCLA and Chris Williams of Washington.


Heading up the second team were Stephen Hale, Max Homa and Eric Mina of Cal, Charlie Hughes of Washington, Jeffrey Kang and Steve Lim of USC, Tarquin MacManus of Arizona and Andrew Vijarro of Oregon.


Ben An (Cal), Philip Francis (Arizona state) and T.J. Vogel (USC) landed honorable mention honors. 

A look ahead --- update on the Incoming Freshmen: Rodgers, Grimes & Puyat

Patrick Rodgers

Here's a review of Stanford's three incoming freshman for the 2011-12 season.  The three are Patrick Rodgers of Indiana, Patrick Grimes of Northern California and Marcel Puyat of Southern California (by way of the Philipines).

In recent months, Patrick Rodgers, in particular, has been invited to participate in some high level amateur events and his results have been very strong up against excellent amateur and collegiate competition.  Patrick finished 2nd, 1 shot behind the winner, at 11-under par in the Terra Cotta Invitational in Naples, Florida with rounds of 67-70-67 while Marcel finished tied for 11th with rounds of 70-73-71.  In the Azalea Invitational in Georgia, March 24-27,  Patrick finished third with rounds of 68-69-67-67--271 against another strong field.  In the Jones Cup Invitational, February 4-6, Patrick finished tied for 3rd, one shot behind the leaders, on rounds of 73-71-74 beating notables such as Scott Langley, Patrick Reed, Bobby Wyatt and Peter Uihlein among others.


Patrick Rodgers is rising on the World Amateur Rankings, which weights results over the previous 12 months, as he is now ranked 63rd in the world --- ahead of him are current Stanford stars David Chung at #2, Andrew Yun at #13 and Sihwan Kim at #53.

Golf Week's overall rankings of junior golfers show Patrick Rodgers at #5, Patrick Grimes at #28 and Marcel at #89.  Below are their search results from Golf Week summarizing their performances:

Patrick Rogers - Golf Week - click to enlarge

Patrick Grimes - Golf Week - click to enlarge

Marcel Puyat - Golf Week - click to enlarge

The AJGA rankings, which are skewed by the amount of events a junior plays in in the AJGA, shows rankings of Patrick Rodgers #5, Patrick Grimes #51 and Marcel #224.  Their current tournament profiles and summaries are found below:

Marcel Puyat - AJGA - click to enlarge

Patrick Grimes - AJGA - click to enlarge

Patrick Rodgers - AJGA

2nd ranked Andrew Yun featured in SF Chronicle article about his parents' support

Ron Kroichick - SF Gate, online version of SF Chronicle Newspaper

Parents sacrificed for Stanford golfer Andrew Yun

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/04/29/SPGA1J9908.DTL

SF Gate Photo

Andrew Yun embraced golf as a 7-year-old in Tacoma, Wash. He had played tennis previously, but he joined his dad on the links one day and soon came to savor the game's unique nature - facing the course more than an opponent.

At 14, already an accomplished junior player, Yun was emboldened enough to pose a weighty question to his parents: Want to move to Arizona?

It became a pivotal moment in Yun's winding path to Stanford, where he blossomed into the Cardinal's top player this season. Yun, a sophomore, is ranked No. 2 in the nation by Golfweek entering the Pac-10 championships, which begin today at Stanford.

The idea of moving to a warmer, practice-friendly climate is hardly revolutionary. Some of Yun's friends from junior tournaments made similar moves. Paula Creamer and her parents relocated from Pleasanton to Florida when she was 14, so she could attend a golf academy.

Still, year-round sunshine hardly guarantees Creamer-like success. And Yun's family had firm roots in the Pacific Northwest: His parents, Paul and Gloria, lived in Tacoma for 25 years after coming to the United States from Korea.

They owned several convenience stores and gas stations in Washington. They sold all but two of them and headed to suburban Phoenix, even if they knew few people there. (They now manage a hotel in Mesa, Ariz.) It helped that Yun's two older sisters already were in college at the time.

"It was something I suggested, and it obviously was a very tough decision for my parents," Yun said this week. "They sacrificed so much for me. They felt like I knew what I was talking about, even though I was 14. They knew it would help my game a lot in the long run."

Yun struggled in the short run. He had trouble adjusting to swing changes pushed by a new coach (whom he later dropped) and tumbled from No. 3 in national junior rankings to No. 150.

He felt extra pressure his first year in Arizona, partly because his parents uprooted their lives to accommodate his ambitions - and he was going in the wrong direction.

"That really humbled me," Yun said of his plunge in the rankings.

He eventually righted himself after reconnecting for long-distance lessons with Joe Thiel, his former coach in Tacoma. Yun had the best of both worlds, with warm winters for extended practice and a coach with whom he was comfortable.

Yun doesn't hit the ball especially far - his average drive travels 275-280 yards, by his estimate (Editor's note ---- watching Andrew in the Pac 10 showed he can hit it 300+ yards when he wants to) - but he leans on accuracy and a sharp short game. He has posted Stanford's low score in six of seven events this season, with five top-5 finishes. (he added another top 5 finish in the Pac 10 tourney finishing 4th).

Now comes a conference tournament with a history of producing individual winners who later thrive as pros, from Scott Simpson (1975-76) and Corey Pavin ('82) to Phil Mickelson ('90) and Tiger Woods ('96). Yun is a long way from matching those players, but he's already come a long way.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/04/28/SPGA1J9908.DTL#ixzz1LJYxmL8H

Cardinal settles for 4th in the Pac 10 Championship, 5 shots behind USC & Oregon

The challenging par 4 9th hole at Stanford

Stanford lineup for the 52nd Pac 10 Championship being held at Stanford historic golf course includes  Andrew Yun, David Chung, Steve Ziegler, Graham Brockington, Steven Kearney and Cameron Wilson - these 6 players are competing with 5 scores counting each of the 4 rounds.  Results are posted below in reverse order below with the tournament background posted after each of the four round results.

FINAL RESULTS - On a beautiful spring day Stanford fought hard but came up just short of a win on its home course, ending 5 shots behind USC and Oregon and two shots behind UCLA.  David Chung finished with a 1-under 69, despite two closing bogies, in a closing round that bodes well for Stanford's NCAA prospects as David in regular form is a force to contend with.

Andrew Yun finished 4th individually (72-70-66-70) closing with a 70 in a round where he couldn't get putts to fall.  With the tournament decided, he made one of his few bad swings on the 18th tee to finish with a double bogey.  It's been a spectacular year for Andrew, however, one that will certainly earn him All-American honors as Stanford's leading player.  He has a remarkable seven top 5 finishes in the ten tournaments this season.  I was most impressed by Andrew's course demeanor in his final round, displaying poise and positive body language - and he couldn't have been a better gentleman to his playing partner, freshman Martin Trainer of Palo Alto and USC, who won individual honors in the event.

Senior captain Steve Ziegler tied for 11th individually (69-70-70-75) after a 4-over four hole stretch of holes from 6 thru 9 led to a front nine 39 -- he followed with a 36 on the back in a round that may have been affected by Steve's limited play and conditioning recently due to a bad back coming into the tournament.  It was good to see Steve strongly supporting his teammates' good play in front and behind him during the event.

Senior Graham Brockington had his finest hour in his Stanford career finishing tied for 16th overall (70-69-73-73).  After limited appearances in his first three season, this final season has found Graham steadily improving to play his best golf in recent weeks.  In this event, only some struggles at the end of his final two founds kept him from contending with the leaders.

Steven Kearney, an improving sophomore, contributed three solid rounds to the team's efforts (71-75-72-72) to finish tied for 30th individually.  Steven showed a big-time, long-hitting game that was so close to top form only lacking a few putts to fall here and there.  His performance bodes well for Stanford's future.  Freshman Cameron Wilson started slowly in his final round as he went out in 4-over 39 without a birdie, but came through big-time on the back nine with a 33 including clutch birdies on 13, 16 & 17.  No doubt a bright future is ahead for Cameron who has a balanced, fluid swing and great length.

Final round scorecards are included below - click to enlarge:

Final round scorecards - click to enlarge

The NCAA championships lie ahead for the Cardinal and the team is poised to do great things.

gostanford.com summarized the final round well below:

STANFORD, Calif. - Playoffs decided both the team and individual titles at the 2011 Pac-10 Men's Golf Championships at Stanford Golf Course as USC defeated Oregon on the first playoff hole to claim the team championship, while USC's Matt Trainer defeated Alex Moore of Oregon State on the seventh playoff hole to win the individual title.

Stanford shot a final round team score of 356 (+6) on Sunday to finish fourth .

Alex Kim of UCLA finished third at 277 (-3) while Stanford's Andrew Yun placed fourth at 278 (-2).

Oregon, which began the day tied with UCLA for third place at +20, shot a final round team score of 345 (-5) to force a playoff with USC, which carded a final round 354 (+4). Daniel Miernicki (67; -3), Jack Dukeminier (67; -3) and Andrew Vijaro (69; -1) led Oregon's final round charge, combining to shoot -8 on the back nine. Vijaro was -4 on the back side alone, collecting an eagle on the par-4 15th hole.

Sam Smith was the only Trojan in red numbers on Sunday, managing a three-under 67, while Trainer shot an even par 70, which included an untimely bogey on the par-5, 16th hole. All told, USC played the back nine at four over par, to slip into a playoff with the Ducks.

After Trainer claimed the individual title in a seven-hole playoff that took 1:45, USC won the six-player, one hole playoff in convincing fashion to earn the team title.

Trainer, a product of Palo Alto's Gunn High School, pared the seventh playoff hole to claim the individual title over Moore. After the two players matched pars six times on the 18th hole, Moore drove into the right rough and was forced to chip out. His third shot landed 25 feet right of the hole and his attempt to save par came up inches short. After hitting a perfect drive, Trainer's second shot to a back pin location came up some 40 feet short, but the sophomore was able to salvage par to claim the conference's individual title.

Stanford entered the final round in second place at +14, three strokes behind USC. However, the Cardinal was +6 on its final round, with only one player managing to come in under par.

Yun, who was paired with USC's Trainer on Sunday, was -2 on his round before making a double bogey on the par-4, 18th hole to finish at even par 70. It marked his seventh top-5 finish in 10 events this season.

Senior Steve Ziegler tied for 11th at 285 (+5), shooting a final round 75 that included three bogeys, one double bogey and no birdies.

Graham Brockington tied for 16th at 285 (+5) after a final round 73. He was even par on his round through 13 holes but bogeyed three of the last five holes to finish three over for the day.

Steve Kearney tied for 30th at 290 (+10) after carding a final round 72 on Sunday. He was even par through his first nine holes but picked up bogeys on holes No. 12 and 18.

Freshman Cameron Wilson tied for 42nd at 295 (+15), closing with a final round 72. After playing his first nine holes at +4, Wilson picked up three birdies on the back nine to finish with a 72.

Junior David Chung finished 44th at 296 (+16) after shooting a final round 69, the only Cardinal under par on Sunday. Chung was -3 on his round before making bogeys on his final two holes of the day. He played his last 45 holes of the tournament at two under par.

Stanford will wait to hear on its draw for NCAA Regional play, which gets underway on May 19 at a site to be determined. 

Andrew Yun 3rd round - click to enlarge

ROUND THREE - Stanford has climbed up the leader board into 2nd place after three rounds, 3 shots behind USC.  Three Cardinal golfers have moved into the top 10 individually led by Andrew Yun who is tied for 3rd at 2-under, 208 total (72-70-66), after a solid 66 in round three that included 5 birdies and only 1 bogey.  Steve Ziegler continued his consistent play with an even par 70 that included two birdies and two bogeys and is tied for 5th overall with rounds of 69-70-70. Graham Brockington is at 212 total (70-69-73) tying for 9th overall despite a closing bogey-double bogey finish.  Stanford article with photo gallery.  The photo at the left of Andrew Yun is courtesy of Dave Elkinson.

David Chung fought back from a bogey-bogey start to post a 1-over 71 in a round that included11 straight pars followed by two birdies, two more pars and a bogey finish.  Steven Kearney posted a 2-over 72 in his third round as he birdied two of his last four holes - he's tied for 28th overall at 228 (71-75-72).  Cameron Wilson stands at 223 total, in 45th individually carding rounds of 72-75-76.  Scorecards from round 3 are below - click to enlarge:

Round 3 scorecards - click to enlarge

ROUND TWO - The 2nd round was played on day 1 again under tough, windy conditions.  It's a wide open tournament with two rounds left to play.  Stanford remains in 3rd place three shots behind USC and one behind Oregon with UCLA a shot behind Stanford in 4th.  Seniors Brockington and Ziegler again led the way with 69 & 70 respectively and are tied for 4th individually at 1 under 139 totals.  Sophomore Andrew Yun had a solid even par 70 and is tied for 14th individually at 142.  

Junior David Chung turned around a tough start with a solid 2-under 33 on the back nine to post a 74 while Steven Kearney and Cameron Wilson both carded 75s. Scorecards for round 2 and 1 can be found below:

Round 2 scorecards - click to enlarge

ROUND 1 SCORING:
Playing on a cool, sunny and very windy day Stanford finished round 1 in 3rd place 3 shots behind Oregon and 1 shot behind UCLA.  It was a struggle early as Oregon shot out to a large lead over the front nine and Stanford came on strongly to close the gap.

Two seniors led the way, with both struggling early and coming on fast with very strong finishes.  Steve Ziegler 1-under 69 had him 3 over par after 5 holes and finishing with four birdies and no bogies thereafter.  Graham Brockington also finished strong with four birdies starting on 13 after going 4 over through 12 holes.

Sophomore Steven Kearney played steadily throughout with nines of 36-35 on his way to a solid 1-over 71 while Andrew Yun and Cameron Wilson carded 2 over 72 scores.  David Chung struggled to an 82 marred by a triple and two double bogies.  Round one scorecards are below - click to enlarge.

Round 1 scorecards - click to enlarge

BACKGROUND INFO:
No included in the lineup was senior Sihwan Kim, again due to concerns of aggravating his back.  Coach Phil Rowe shares that "the obvious omission is Sihwan. In the end it was a decision that was taken to eliminate any risk that sihwan might aggravate his back on a long 36 hole day. NCAA regionals and nationals are 1 round per day and we want to be absolutely sure that he is able to come through the entire post season."


Here are some useful links for the tournament:  Tee times & Pairings | Stanfordmensgolf.org |  Official Pac 10 site | Real Time Scoring | Stanford Golf Course website | gostanford.com announcement.


UCLA is the team to beat based on the national rankings by Golf Week shown below.    In those same rankings, sophomore Andrew Yun is the ranked 2nd nationally just ahead of UCLA freshman Cantlay.  Stanford is looking for strong support from past All-Americans David Chung and Steve Ziegler who have shown signs of returning to form that had each all Pac 10 performers. 

TEAM	2011 RANKING
UCLA	3
California	18
Stanford	20
USC	21
Oregon	22
ASU	27
Washington	30
OSU	48
Arizona	64
WSU	89

Head coach Conrad Ray shares his view on the event: 

"The fact that we are playing on our home course lends itself to having six guys playing with the mentality that they can win the golf tournament," he said. "With the six, count five format, you really need to rely on the depth of your team. I've felt good about our depth one through 10 all season.  We'd all like to see Andrew continue his excellent form this weekend," said Ray. "He's established himself as one of the premier players in the country."

The Cardinal is also counting heavily on Chung, who played in the Masters earlier this month as the U.S. Amateur runner-up, but has just one top-10 finish this season.

"David is eager to get out there," said Ray. "He's worked through some scheduling challenges that comes with playing in the Masters and is feeling really good about his game right now."

Ziegler and Brockington both have Pac-10 Championship experience, while Kearney and Wilson will be making their conference debuts.

"We definitely need production across the board, especially since we are playing six guys," said Ray. "In our strong tournaments this season, we've had multiple guys in the hunt.

On the other side, we've had our tournaments where only one or two guys play well and the rest of the team struggles."

While ending a 16-year title drought remains the ultimate goal, Ray has also stressed to his team the importance of building up some momentum with NCAA Regional play rapidly approaching.

"To be able to call yourself the champion of the Pac-10 Conference is a great accomplishment and motivation in of itself," said Ray. "But we also realize what is ahead of us. This weekend would be a great time to start building some momentum."

Kim & Ziegler recovering from back injury and may play in the Pac 10 Championship

An exciting development for the Stanford Cardinal is that two seniors and former All-Americans Sihwan Kim and Steve Ziegler may be healthy enough to return to the team lineup. Sihwan has had the more serious back issues that have produced irregular participation in team qualifying tournaments and prevented his travel for multiple events this season.  Sihwan's best event of this 2010-11 season was a 6th place at the Gifford Collegiate at Cordevalle last November but otherwise.

Team trainer Tomoo Yamada reports that “Sihwan strained his lower back  and we have been slowly strengthening his back muscles to provide more stability to prevent from restraining the back as he retunes his game.  We are carefully evaluating his returning date. As of April 22nd, his back is responding well and given what Sihwan has done in the past weeks, we expect to see him on the golf course soon”.

Steve Ziegler tweaked his back before the last event at Pasatiempo and he missed his first event of the year.  He reports his back is improving and although it has given him trouble in recent months he is hopeful that it will allow him to play at the important Pac 10 championship.  Steve was a 2nd team All-American and member of the US Porter Cup team in 2009 and has been a key starter throughout his wonderful Stanford career.

Coaches Ray and Rowe report that  "we are excited that team captain Steve is likely to be able to play and that there is an outside chance that  Sihwan may be able to tee it up for the Cardinal on the big stage of the Pac 10 Conference Championship. This is the time of year when there is great opportunity as the stakes get ramped up for the top ranked teams."  

Sihwan reportedly is almost at the point where he is healthy enough to hit his full range of shots and when that is combined with his phenomenal short game ability then his potential inclusion in the lineup is certainly an exciting development.  Sihwan was a first team All-American as a freshman after winning the US Junior Amateur championship at the Olympic Club.

 Let's see what happens!

Andrew Yun picked for Palmer Cup to represent US vs Europe in June

Congratulations to sophomore Andrew Yun, named to represent the United States in the Palmer Cup vs Europe to be played June 9-11 in Connecticutt.

It's been a remarkably consistent season by Andrew in 2010-11 coming on the heels of  very strong summer play.  Andrew's 70.8 stroke average is low on the team by almost 3 strokes and he has 6 top 5 finishes and one 1st in 9 events.

Andrew finished tied for 11th at Olympia Fields in September with rounds of 69-68-76 (213), first at The Prestige October 10-12 with 70-69-65 (204), 4th at Isleworth October 24-26 with 71-70-76 (217), 15th at CordeValle Nov 8-10 with 74-71-73, tied for 22nd in Hawaii Feb 2-4 with 75-68-69 (212), tied for 5th at USC Feb 28-Mar 1 with 70-70-71 (211), tied for 4th in Georgia March 27-29 with 71-68-72, finished 2nd in Texas with 73-74-69 (216) and tied for 2nd again at Pasatiempo Apr 16-17 with 68-70-71 (209).

Here's a link to the press conference video announcing all selections on the Golf Week website.

Here's the story as reported in gostanford.com:

STANFORD, Calif. - Stanford sophomore Andrew Yun has been named to the United States teams that will compete in the 2011 Palmer Cup, which is set for June 9-11 at The Stanwich Club outside of Greenwich, Conn.

Yun will join Blayne Barber of Auburn, UCLA’s Patrick Cantlay, Abilene Christian’s Alex Carpenter, Russell Henley of Georgia, Oregon’s Daniel Miernicki, Bank Vongvanij of Florida and Washington’s Chris Williams on the U.S. squad.

Henley and Miernicki were part of last year’s victories American squad at Royal Portrush with Henley posting a 3-1 record and Miernicki a 2-2 mark. The United States team will be lead by head coach Tim Poe of Central Missouri and assistant coach Michael Burcin of South Carolina.

Representing Europe will be Arkansas’ Sebastian Cappelen, Ignacio Elvira of Texas A&M, Texas Tech’s Nils Floren, Jeff Karlsson of Kennesaw State, Liberty’s Robert Karlsson, Nick MacAndrew of Aberdeen, Augusta State’s Henrik Norlander and UCLA’s Pontus Widegren.

Widegren went 3-1 at the 2010 Palmer Cup while Norlander was 2-2. Norlander also posted a 2-2 mark at the 2009 Palmer Cup at Cherry Hills and helped lead Europe to victory. Floren, Norlander, Widegren and both Jeff and Robert Karlsson hail from Sweden while Cappelen is a native of Denmark, Elvira is from Spain and MacAndrew is Scottish.

Rickard Lindberg of the Swedish Golf Federation will serve as head coach of the European team and Northwestern’s David Inglis will serve as his assistant. Inglis is the first former Palmer Cup player to serve as a coach in the event after representing Scotland in both 2001 and 2003. The United States leads the Palmer Cup series 7-6-1.