Golfers take on stacked field at Mauna Lani Invitational
Of the 22 teams invited to the tournament, the Cardinal is one of the 10 top-25 teams in the country, including No.1 Oklahoma, No. 4 TCU, No.7 Arizona State, No. 8 Washington, No. 13 UCLA, No. 15 Texas, No. 16 USC, No. 17 Oregon State and No. 19 Texas Tech.
Regardless of the competition, Stanford is staying focused on the NCAA crown with high hopes for both this tournament and the rest of the season.
“We are excited to get over to the Big Island and compete in a very strong field,” head coach Conrad Ray told GoStanford.com. “We have worked hard in the off season and [we are] looking forward to seeing that work pay off. The team is approaching the event as the beginning of a whole new season, and getting off to a good start will be important.”
Clearly, the Cardinal’s elbow grease both during fall and over the break did not go unnoticed. Stanford began the season boasting the No. 9 golfer in the nation, junior Sihwan Kim, and claimed the runner-up spot to Oklahoma. During the fall, the Cardinal posted four top-four performances, with two second places finishes leading up to its final tournament win before break. After a pair of second-place individual rankings in both of his last tournaments, Kim is due for a win this spring.
Despite the hype, Stanford stacked up in fifth place overall after yesterday’s first round. No. 29 Oregon and UCLA are currently tied for first followed by Oklahoma State, Washington and USC to make the top five. Junior Niles Floren of Texas Tech, ranked No.7 in the nation, holds first place going into today’s second round.
For Stanford, senior Jordan Cox and Kim are leading the team at even par and are in a tie for 11th in the individual ladder. Just four strokes separate first place and 10th place, which shows that this tournament is one of the toughest the Cardinal will play this season.
Junior Steve Ziegler, ranked No. 53, closed out the day with a two-over-par in a tie for 30th place. Ziegler grabbed three birdies, but they were not enough to launch him back toward the top 10. Just one stroke behind Ziegler is freshman Andrew Yun in a tie for 40th. Yun also had a tough day on the course, but managed to eagle the 15th hole. The Cardinal hopes he will continue this good performance in today’s rounds.
Rounding out the Cardinal five is sophomore, David Chung, ranked No. 23, in a tie for 64th with a five-over-par for the day. Chung was really tripped up by the back nine, but if his fall season performance is any indication, he will bounce back during today’s rounds in sunny Hawaii.