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Golf teams rounding into form - bbm233 - 04-10-2017

Both the men's and women's teams are looking like contenders this spring.

The men's team won their own tournament a couple of weeks ago against a pretty good field; four ranked teams including #1 U.SC. The Cardinal is currently ranked #7. This past weekend, the men came in second in the Western Intercollegiate against a strong field. Three Cardinal golfers finished in the top 5 individually, showing off the depth of the team as that included the #5 and #6 players on the roster.  U.SC ran away from the field, but the Cardinal would have challenged them with more consistency from the middle of the order. The Pac-12 tournament starts at the end of the month, and if it goes according to form, it will be a battle between Stanford, Oregon and U.SC.

The women look even stronger, having delivered top 3 finishes in almost every tournament. They are currently ranked #3. They are leading their final tune-up tournament before the Pac-12 Championships in a couple of weeks.

Is there another NCAA championship out there for these teams? They should be in the mix, the women especially.

P.S. I had to bring up another spring sport to distract us from Softball.

Re: Golf teams rounding into form - BobK - 04-10-2017

Hard to bring up Ms Valenzuela' bike vs car accident but that is a very serious problem for us.  I don't know when back or if back.

Re: Golf teams rounding into form - Spiny_Norman - 04-10-2017

BBM, I welcome all golf talk.  Between the two teams, I would have given the nod to the women as more likely title contender. But they are playing without their strong #3 player Albane Valenzuela who is recovering from a serious bike accident on campus. She already had three top 10 finishes this spring and was ranked #47 in the country.  With her, Andrea Lee (#2 in the country) and Casey Danielson (#4 in the country), Stanford was as good at 1,2 and 3 as any team.  But Stanford has been inconsistent at positions 4 and 5.  Coach Walker has given every player on the roster a shot at those spots and yet none has been able to nail one down. 

But it worked in 2015 for Stanford with two All Americans at the top of the lineup (Stackhouse and Kim) and enough contributions from the rest of the lineup to win.  And the same formula almost worked again last year. If Chou, Aubert and Kersten (the current lineup at the tournament at Silverado) play to their best ability, Stanford can beat anyone.

The men played well enough the past two weeks.  But the players have still been very inconsistent.  Coach Ray has one solid spot - Maverick McNealy at #1.  Every other position seems up for grabs. He has tried 6 players at the other 4 spots.  All have shined at times.  Yet they have also struggled greatly.  Example - Badhwar was 8th last week at the Goodwin at Stanford. He was 74th this week at the Western Intercollegiate.  In fact, Stanford was in a position to win the tournament at Pasatiempo this past weekend, only behind U.SC by 3 shots going into the final round.  But McNealy shot 74, Salinda 76, Huang 76, Wu 76, Badhwar 76.

But if the Stanford men qualify for the NCAAs (which seems a given, but you never know), they would be assigned a regional at a familiar course - Stanford.  The university is hosting a regional.



Re: Golf teams rounding into form - Hulk01 - 04-10-2017

Stanford's men's team is deep but without a true #2.  Our #4-#8 might be the best in the country. 

Weird to consider that team.  Four years ago, our entering freshman class included two of the world's top five juniors and a promising young Californian, Maverick McNeally.  But only the promising add-on became a star.  Jimmy Liu dropped out in his sophomore year and Viraat Badhwar has been merely good.  As in football, five star golf recruits often fall short.

If #3 Valenzuela can return, the women's team should be favored for the title.  Andrea Lee is unreal when she gets it rolling.

Re: Golf teams rounding into form - BostonCard - 04-10-2017

The tournament format also means that any top team has a reasonable chance to win it.  All it takes is to get hot at the right time.  Of course the same works in reverse, and din't our highly ranked men have a just awful tournament last year, where nothing worked?

BC

Re: Golf teams rounding into form - bbm233 - 04-10-2017

The team misses the consistency of Boote, don't they? I am hoping that Franklin Huang repeats his performances from last year's post-season. He won the Pac-12s if I remember correctly. I expected him to be a solid #2 based on how he closed the 2016 season. And McNealy seems to have taken a half-step backward, from a consistency standpoint.

The achilles of this team is the double-bogey. Tons of talent (four current members qualified for the US Amateur last year), but mental mistakes have all too often turned a 71 into a 75. Knox had his first Top 5 this past weekend because he didn't have to write down a 7 or 8 on his scorecard all weekend. That's a first for him. It will be interesting to see who Coach Ray taps to be the #4 and #5 at the Pac-12 (McNealy, Badwhar and Huang are givens).

Edit: they take six players to the Pac-12, and that is probably set with the same six that played this past weekend. If they advance to the regionals, they only take 5 players. Also, Huang finished top 10 at the Pac-12 last year, which was won by Jon Rahm (ASU), who has already made his mark on the PGA tour.

Re: Golf teams rounding into form - oldalum - 04-10-2017

(04-10-2017, 10:59 AM)Spiny_Norman link Wrote:If Chou, Aubert and Kersten (the current lineup at the tournament at Silverado) play to their best ability, Stanford can beat anyone.
All 5 were under par today and expanded their lead to 5 over UCLA. Would have been more but UCLA's best player shot a 63. Most encouraging performance is by Kersten who is tied for 5th individually.

Re: Golf teams rounding into form - BobK - 04-11-2017

https://mobile.twitter.com/stanfordwgolf/status/851659929400229888

Re: Golf teams rounding into form - Hulk01 - 04-11-2017

Women merely ok, sixth best round of the 18 teams.

But hard to match yesterday's school record performance: Lee -4, Danielson -3, Chou -3, Kersten -2. Aubert -1.  Unheard of.

They win the three day event at -16, ahead of #8 UCLA at -7.

Lee third overall, Danielson fourth, Aubert and Kersten 13th, and Chou 21st a field of 91.   



Re: Golf teams rounding into form - oldalum - 04-11-2017

(04-11-2017, 03:19 PM)Hulk01 link Wrote:Women merely ok, sixth best round of the 18 teams. 
A sign that expectations have become pretty high for this team! It's only sporting to give some other teams a chance to shine once in a while, isn't it? (BTW, by my math, it was the fifth best round today--not too shabby!)

Re: Golf teams rounding into form - winflop - 04-12-2017

(04-11-2017, 03:19 PM)Hulk01 link Wrote:They win the three day event at -16, ahead of #8 UCLA at -7.

Lee third overall, Danielson fourth, Aubert and Kersten 13th, and Chou 21st a field of 91. 

This looks like a pretty dominating win against a strong field.

Re: Golf teams rounding into form - oldalum - 04-12-2017

(04-12-2017, 04:05 AM)winflop link Wrote:This looks like a pretty dominating win against a strong field.
Yes and without our excellent injured frosh player.

Re: Golf teams rounding into form - winflop - 04-13-2017

(04-12-2017, 06:32 PM)oldalum link Wrote:[quote author=winflop link=topic=16777.msg191556#msg191556 date=1491995104]
This looks like a pretty dominating win against a strong field.
Yes and without our excellent injured frosh player.
[/quote]

With not much time left in the season I'm not expecting her to be back this year. I just hope she recovers fully and hits the course next fall with a vengeance!

Re: Golf teams rounding into form - StanfordMatt - 04-13-2017

(04-13-2017, 05:33 AM)winflop link Wrote:[quote author=oldalum link=topic=16777.msg191589#msg191589 date=1492047165]
[quote author=winflop link=topic=16777.msg191556#msg191556 date=1491995104]
This looks like a pretty dominating win against a strong field.
Yes and without our excellent injured frosh player.
[/quote]

With not much time left in the season I'm not expecting her to be back this year. I just hope she recovers fully and hits the course next fall with a vengeance!
[/quote]

Besides the fact that NCAA Championships are at the end of May, is there any other reason why you're not expecting her back this year? At the risk of sounding insensitive, the below article from Golf Week didn't seem to indicate that Valenzuela suffered any injuries that would keep her out of action long-term. I realize that recovery times for concussions can vary, but it seems like athletes are typically back in action within a few weeks after sustaining one.

http://golfweek.com/2017/03/28/lpga-ana-inspiration-stanford-albane-valenzuela-bike-accident/

Re: Golf teams rounding into form - BobK - 04-13-2017

We just had a WBB player miss 8 months with a concussion

We recently had two athletes retire with concussions.

Hard to treat them lightly but certainly hope you are right Matt

Re: Golf teams rounding into form - BostonCard - 04-13-2017

A little bit different between a non-contact sport like golf and a sport where you really shouldn't be at risk for further concussions and WBB where a repeat concussion is a distinct possibility.

BC

Re: Golf teams rounding into form - fullmetal - 04-13-2017

I know a Stanford friend who has been trying to recover from a concussion for the last ~2 years.  Nothing is guaranteed :(

Re: Golf teams rounding into form - GK3 - 04-13-2017

I have yet to see any discussion of her injuries other than a discussion.  Besides the head, you can bang up practically every joint in the body in a good bike accident and I have had my share.  I hope she gets back on the course quickly.

Re: Golf teams rounding into form - Spiny_Norman - 04-13-2017

(04-13-2017, 01:07 PM)GK3 link Wrote:I have yet to see any discussion of her injuries other than a discussion.  Besides the head, you can bang up practically every joint in the body in a good bike accident and I have had my share.  I hope she gets back on the course quickly.

GK3, the Golfweek article specified the injuries - "She suffered a concussion, received stitches on her nose and is currently experiencing pain in her wrist and knee."  A top player's golf swing is such a finely tuned motion that it can take a while to recover from any single disruption, much less multiple injuries. 

Still, I'm really bullish on this team. They are a top 5 team with one senior (Danielson). one junior (Aubert), one soph (Kersten) and 3 frosh (Lee, Chou and Valenzuela) among the top contributors.  Coach Walker has quietly built one of Stanford's most successful programs.

Re: Golf teams rounding into form - BobK - 04-13-2017

Plus these recruits announced in Novemeber

http://www.gostanford.com/news/2016/11/9/womens-golf-card-land-liu-zeng.aspx?path=wgolf