Crowning the Champs

The men's and women's teams celebrated their 2014 conference championship wins last night with a short ceremony during the annual Stanford Men's Club dinner at the Stanford Faculty Club.  All returning players received a ring with their initials and a big Cardinal "S" on top!  Congratulations to all of the players for their hard work and great play.  Let's keep it up and see if we can do it again this year! Go Card!

Fall Season Recap

With the close of CordeValle, the fall season for Stanford Men’s Golf has come to an end.  A lot has happened in just a few short months.  The team came out with a bang, winning the first event of the season at the Southwestern Intercollegiate hosted by USC.  There was no rest for the weary as we traveled straight to Chicago from LA to compete in the Fighting Illinois Invitational where the Card finished 4th.  

After two short weeks at home, a chance for the boys to get back into school, we whisked off to Hogan’s Alley at Colonial CC in Fort Worth, Texas to play the inaugural Nike Golf Collegiate Invitational.  While in Fort Worth, the competing teams visited the Oven, Nike’s innovative research and fitting center, where we received a first-class tour and were able to test Nike’s newest equipment.  After a strong final day the Card waited for Oregon to finish.  Oregon would go on to make a few birdies on the final holes to secure the win.  Even with a second place finish, the team left Fort Worth feeling confident.  

The team would have a week at home before traveling to the fourth event of the fall, The US Collegiate Championship in Alpharetta, Georgia, just outside Atlanta.  It wasn’t the team’s best week and resulted in our only finish outside the top five.  The fifth and final event of the fall, the Gifford Collegiate hosted by UCLA, took place at CordeValle just 40 minutes from campus.  The team bounced back nicely finishing third in the event and had the best round of the day in the final round. 

In total, we had a strong fall season finishing in the top five in four of five events.  Some highlights of the season include:

• Our senior, Patrick Grimes, was elected team Captain.  Patrick will play an important role in leading the team throughout the year
• Maverick McNealy had his first collegiate win at the Southwestern Intercollegiate, firing a 65 in the final round to win by 5 strokes.  Maverick followed up his win by winning again the following week in Chicago.  Maverick shared medalist honors with Dylan Meyer from Illinois
• Stanford Golf alums, Tiger Woods and Notah Begay, visited campus for Notah Begay’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony.  Both Tiger and Notah spent several hours with the team each day over a long weekend sharing their vast knowledge of golf
• The conclusion of the Tiger and Notah weekend was marked by sophomore Viraat Badwhar who shot 59 at Stanford Golf Course, setting a new course record, breaking his own previous course record of 61 in the process.  Viraat, “V,” was eight under par through 11 holes and was able to calmly two-putt from 20 feet on 18 for his record round
• David Boote finished in the top 10 in two of three events and finished fourth in the College All-America Classic - a tournament he was invited to as a result of his All-American honorable mention last season
• The team earned valuable experience as each player, including all three freshmen, played in at least one tournament this fall.  The freshmen finishes were capped off by Franklin Huang’s 66 in the final round of CordeValle, earning him his first collegiate top 10

Overall there are many positive things to take from this fall.  There are also several exciting new opportunities for improvement, which we will look to tackle in the offseason.  The team is looking forward to some quality time on campus, both in the classroom and on the course over the next couple of months before picking things up again in January.  The Race to Hawaii, the team’s next qualifying tournament, is only two short months away! 

2014 Stanford Men's Golf Fall Schedule

Keeping the momentum this summer

The PAC-12 & NCAA Semifinalist trophies sitting on Coach Ray's desk:

Dear Cardinal Faithful,

A big thank you to all those who have supported us through these final months. What an exciting finish to the season with some great golf... it's hard to believe we now have another year in the books!

However, with the 2013-14 collegiate season behind us, it would be easy to shut things down for the summer and wait for September to roll around again... but that's not the way of a Cardinal golfer...

Stanford Men's golf will have two representatives teeing it up at Pinehurst for the US Open this week:

First to secure his spot was Maverick McNealy:

US Open bound!
— Maverick McNealy (@13maverickm) June 3, 2014

>> Go 'Tee to Green' with Maverick

Then by virtue of a 1st alternate spot, NCAA Individual Champion, Cameron Wilson, will join the party at Pinehurst:

I'm excited to say that I got into the US Open this week!!! My courtesy car had a grand total of six miles on it pic.twitter.com/dmA2d3v7M1
— Cameron Wilson (@CAWilsonGolf) June 9, 2014

>> Go 'Tee to Green' with Cameron

>> Cameron featuring in the latest "I am Stanford" video

>> Cameron explains nerd Nation

>> Cameron wins the NCAA Championship

Following the US Open you can turn to the PGA Tour where you can watch Patrick Rodgers and Cameron Wilson tee it up in the Travelers Championship for their first tournament in the professional ranks. We wish both these young men every success in their next career step and thank them for their outstanding contributions to the program.

With 11 collegiate wins and a collegiate career stroke average of 70.30 (69.4 in 2013-14 ~ his Junior year), Patrick Rodgers has either tied or bettered many of Tiger Woods' school records. It is no wonder to anyone that he has been recognized for just about all the year end awards in collegiate and amateur golf.

>> Patrick wins the 2014 Haskins Award

>> Patrick wins the 2014 Nicklaus Award

>> Patrick wins the 2014 Hogan Award

>> Go 'Tee to Green' with Patrick

Across the pond the very same week as the Travelers Championship PGA Tour, Jim Liu and David Boote will be looking to make a run at The Amateur Championship at Royal Portrush and Portstewart, Ireland, UK.

All team members will have great opportunities to play and compete this summer and you can follow their updates at www.stanfordmensgolf.com

Best wishes and Go Cardinal!

Conrad and Phil

2014 Race to Hawaii - Qualifying Round Results and Team Announcement

The Cardinal squad traveling to Hawaii for the Amer Ari Invitational at Waikoloa, February 6-8, 2014 has been announced as follows:

Team: David Boote (DB), Patrick Rodgers (PR), Cameron Wilson (CW), Maverick McNealy (MM), Viraat Badhwar (VB)
Individuals: Jim Liu (JL), Patrick Grimes (PG)
Home: Dominic Francks (DF), Keegan English (KE), Shane Lebow (SL)

The traveling squad will depart campus on Monday February 3rd.

Here are the rounds and scores documented from qualifying team practice rounds since Winter Quarter began...

Cumulative totals:

DB -12

CW -10

PR -10

MM -5

VB -3

PG +6

JL +8

KE +18

DF +24

SL +29

And here below you can read the scores and reports from each outing...

1/15/14 - Front 9 @ Stanford Golf Course

Cameron Wilson set the pace with a fine 4 under par front nine score. Both Patrick Rodgers and Maverick McNealy had chances to tie him, but their putts hung on the lip.

Scores:

CW 31 (-4)

PR 32 (-3)

MM 32 (-3)

JL 33 (-2)

PG 33 (-2)

DB 33 (-2)

DF 36 (+1)

SL 36 (+1)

VB 36 (+1)

KE 37 (+2)

1/17/14 - Front 9 Crystal Springs

Patrick Grimes continued his solid play by maneuvering his ball well around the firm fairways and elevation changes on the tricky Crystal Springs course.

Scores:

PG 33 (-3)

MM 36 (0)

VB 36 (0)

DB 37 (+1)

DF 37 (+1)

SL 38 (+2)

KE 38 (+2)

CW 39 (+3)

PR 40 (+4)

JL 42 (+6)

1/19/14 - Stanford Golf Course (black tees)

The top players took full advantage of this opportunity to play one tee forward than their usual "Cardinal Plates" teeing ground...

Scores:

PR 62 (-8)

CW 63 (-7)

MM 65 (-5)

DB 65 (-5)

PG 67 (-3)

VB 67 (-3)

KE 73 (+3)

DF 73 (+3)

JL 73 (+3)

SL 77 (+7)

1/22/14 - Front 9 @ Peninsula Golf & Country Club 

An opportunity to warm up at the Siebel Varsity Golf Training Complex prior to departure for the Peninsula Club...

David Boote was low man on the day but the limelight was stolen by Keegan English who made a hole-in-one from 170 yards on hole 7!

Scores:

DB 32 (-3)

JL 34 (-1)

VB 34 (-1)

PR 36 (+1)

MM 36 (+1)

KE 36 (+1)

CW 37 (+2)

SL 38 (+3)

PG 39 (+4)

DF 40 (+5)

On Friday 1/24 the team headed south for a weekend of golf in the Monterey/Pebble Beach area. The first port of call was to practice wedges and play the Peter Hay Par 3 course. Here is a picture of the team all together:

@StanfordMGolf hits Pebble Beach!! pic.twitter.com/hzEYQqHcxl
— Viraat Badhwar (@ViraatBadhwar) January 25, 2014

And a couple of pics of the course:

Highlights of two 9 hole loops:
Viraat Badhwar made 9 twos!
Bavid Boote made 8 twos and a hole-in-one!

1/25/14 - Fort Ord - Black Horse

An early (7am tee time) start:

Cool pic from our early morning tee time. Good day to be a Stanford cardinal! #gocard @StanfordMGolf pic.twitter.com/6aZGm4pAUw
— Cameron Wilson (@CAWilsonGolf) January 26, 2014

The Par 3 practice translated well into the first round of scoring as David Boote and Viraat Badhwar tied for low round honors on the challenging and fast Black Horse greens.

Scores:

DB 70 (-2)

VB 70 (-2)

CW 73 (+1)

KE 75 (+3)

JL 75 (+3)

PG 75 (+3)

DF 75 (+3)

PR 77 (+5)

SL 77 (+5)

MM 79 (+7)

An Albatross for Viraat...

@StanfordMGolf @CAWilsonGolf 215 yards to a back pin.. 3 iron landed middle of the green and and trickled in!!
— Viraat Badhwar (@ViraatBadhwar) January 26, 2014

1/25/14 - Fort Ord - Bayonet

The afternoon round began at 12.30pm. With an eagle on the last hole, Patrick Rodgers claimed the low round of the day...

Scores:

PR 68 (-4)

CW 69 (-3)

JL 70 (-2)

DB 71 (-1)

MM 73 (+1)

KE 74 (+2)

VB 75 (+3)

PG 75 (+3)

DF 75 (+3)

SL 80 (+8)

A phenomenal flop shot from Jim Liu on hole 10...

1/26/14 - The Preserve

Another beautiful day on a terrific course with the most immaculate greens imaginable...

No surprise but today was another good day to be a Stanford golfer. #go card @StanfordMGolf pic.twitter.com/Ko5Dzu13oS
— Cameron Wilson (@CAWilsonGolf) January 26, 2014

Maverick McNealy shone through with a magnificent round of six under par, 66. He clipped Patrick Rodgers to the low round by just one stroke...

Scores: 

MM 66 (-6)

PR 67 (-5)

CW 70 (-2)

VB 71 (-1)

DB 72 (E)

JL 73 (+1)

SL 75 (+3)

PG 76 (+4)

KE 77 (+5)

DF 78 (+6)

Once again the Cumulative totals:

DB -12

CW -10

PR -10

MM -5

VB -3

PG +6

JL +8

KE +18

DF +24

SL +29

Go Cardinal!

Catching Up With Conrad Ray...

Please click the video below to hear an update from Coach Ray as Men's Golf will soon engage in their first tournament of 2014...

Go Cardinal!