The No. 10 Stanford men’s golf team got off to the successful start it hoped for in the opening round of the NCAA Columbus Regional on Thursday, shooting a combined 7-over 291 to finish the day third in the 13-team field. Individually, junior Cameron Wilson led the Cardinal with a two-birdie, 1-under-par 70 to put him in a four-way tie for fourth.
No. 1 California repeated as Pac-12 champions — beating out No. 5 UCLA and No. 6 Washington — while the No. 8 Stanford men’s golf team inched ahead of Arizona State for fourth. The Cardinal improved on its sixth place finish a year ago but extended its winless streak at the conference tournament to 19 years.
Sophomore Patrick Rodgers notched his third victory of the season in dramatic fashion, leading the No. 13 Stanford men’s golf team to a fifth place showing at the Southern Highlands Collegiate Masters in Las Vegas, NV.
This week the No. 14 Stanford men’s golf team co-hosted, with UC-Davis, 15 teams at the Prestige at PGA West in La Quinta, Calif.
As one of eight teams participating in the Stanford Classic, Patrick Rodgers, Cameron Wilson and the rest of the No. 19 Cardinal had an opportunity to do what Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy or most of the world’s best golfers never did: compete at the Cypress Point Club. While Stanford’s dreams of taking the team title faded in the face of a red-hot Texas squad on Tuesday, the chance to play competitive rounds on the No. 2 course in Golf Magazine’s 2011 Best Courses in America was certainly a thrill and great opportunity for the team.
The men and women’s golf teams both finished up their fall seasons this week, with the women placing third at the Rainbow Wahine Invitational on Wednesday while the men came home in sixth place at the Gifford Collegiate Golf Championship earlier in the day.
It didn’t take long for Patrick Rodgers to make an impact with the men’s golf team, as the freshman from Avon, Ill., won the individual title at the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational before classes had even started. On Wednesday, his efforts were rewarded once again, as commissioner Larry Scott announced Rodgers was named the Pac-12 Men’s Golfer of the Month for September.
Men’s golf came close but failed to advance to the NCAA Championships after the Central Regional Saturday.