[Spiny_Norman]

As long as we're listing the puzzles:

Aubert was the medalist in the US Women's Amateur last summer, and advanced to the second round.  

Lee got to at least the second round.  

And Valenzuela finished as the runner-up.  

And Liu, who's played well, to be sure, is a Rolex Junior All American--a repeater, as I recall.

Bama and UCLA are just as loaded, but they're playing like it.

Hulk, Stanford has quite a roster of accomplished players. I think that all 5 of the Cardinal players in the Pac 12s have finished top 5 in one or more tournaments this year. But I tend to discount summer results as predictors of subsequent spring performance. It's easy to find examples of talented players who had one great summer which ended up as their career highlight. See David Chung 2010 as an example (won the Porter Cup and Western Amateur and was runner up in the US Amateur). We have heard very little from him since.

The head-scratcher to me is that none of the Stanford players have really stepped up this season. Mika Liu (a true frosh) had been Stanford's most consistent performer all year. But she just posted her worst showing of the season at the P12s.  And Aubert continues to struggle, shooting 80 today including 44 on the final 9. Still, all that matters is how you finish. I have great faith that Coaches Walker and Dobashi will have the team as ready as it can be for regionals.

[Spiny_Norman]

As long as we're listing the puzzles:

Aubert was the medalist in the US Women's Amateur last summer, and advanced to the second round.  

Lee got to at least the second round.  

And Valenzuela finished as the runner-up.  

And Liu, who's played well, to be sure, is a Rolex Junior All American--a repeater, as I recall.

Bama and UCLA are just as loaded, but they're playing like it.

Hulk, Stanford has quite a roster of accomplished players. I think that all 5 of the Cardinal players in the Pac 12s have finished top 5 in one or more tournaments this year. But I tend to discount summer results as predictors of subsequent spring performance. It's easy to find examples of talented players who had one great summer which ended up as their career highlight. See David Chung 2010 as an example (won the Porter Cup and Western Amateur and was runner up in the US Amateur). We have heard very little from him since.

The head-scratcher to me is that none of the Stanford players have really stepped up this season. Mika Liu (a true frosh) had been Stanford's most consistent performer all year. But she just posted her worst showing of the season at the P12s.  And Aubert continues to struggle, shooting 80 today including 44 on the final 9. Still, all that matters is how you finish. I have great faith that Coaches Walker and Dobashi will have the team as ready as it can be for regionals.