MGolf starts the season Monday in La Quinta

[Spiny_Norman]

The defending NCAA champion (from 2019) Stanford men's golf team starts its season on Monday at the Prestige in La Quinta. There will be a full 24 team field including 9 P12 teams, SMU, San Diego State, Pepperdine and Texas Tech.

This will be the first college action (I hope) for Stanford's highly regarded freshmen Michael Thorbjornsen and Karl Vilips. We'll have to wait and see who Coach Ray has in the lineup. The team has had very little time together for qualifying.

The Golf Channel weighs in with a season preview for men's college golf - https://www.golfchannel.com/news/mens-co...e-previews

[newguy]

if there's one sport that doesn't really need fans in attendance, it's golf.
let's hope our boys can repeat.

[slide]

lineup:
1. Barclay Brown SO
2. Ashwin Arasu SR
3. Michael Thorbjornsen FR
4. Karl Vilips FR
5. Henry Shimp 5SR

if Shimp is playing well and playing #5, then a good omen.

[BostonCard]

Is Arasu a surprise #2?

BC

[Spiny_Norman]

Is Arasu a surprise #2?

BC

The early season lineup is always pretty fluid. When Stanford won in 2019, they did not solidify the lineup until the 4th tournament of the spring season. But it is a surprise to me that Arasu is playing ahead of 3 players who were in the top 5 last year - Ethan Ng, David Snyder and Daulet Tuleubayev.

The Prestige runs a parallel tournament at Coral Mountain for individuals who are not playing in the team event. Stanford is not participating. That's also a surprise because it can be good tournament experience for the players and give the coaches valuable data to help them decide about the lineup for the next tournament (whenever that is). Of course, we really don't know about injuries/Covid status.

[winflop]

Is Arasu a surprise #2?

BC

The early season lineup is always pretty fluid. When Stanford won in 2019, they did not solidify the lineup until the 4th tournament of the spring season. But it is a surprise to me that Arasu is playing ahead of 3 players who were in the top 5 last year - Ethan Ng, David Snyder and Daulet Tuleubayev.

The Prestige runs a parallel tournament at Coral Mountain for individuals who are not playing in the team event. Stanford is not participating. That's also a surprise because it can be good tournament experience for the players and give the coaches valuable data to help them decide about the lineup for the next tournament (whenever that is). Of course, we really don't know about injuries/Covid status.

Not much time to settle on the lineup this year. Likely to only have 3, maybe 4, events before Pac-12s & NCAAs

[BobK]

After Day 1 we are 20 out of 24.

[winflop]

After Day 1 we are 20 out of 24.

We may be 20th but only 12 strokes separate 2nd place from 21st. It's a very tight field so far.

The two frosh led the way and are both in the top 25 individually. The rest of the team needs to play better.

[slide]

not too surprised by the FR play, but really surprised at the play of the older players.  Arasu with a quad that derailed his round and Shimp will a long bogey train.  both unusual.

another day today.  go get 'em.

[winflop]

Out early on Day 2

http://results.golfstat.com/public/leade...&tid=21240

[Spiny_Norman]

It took until the 3rd round, but the team had it together today. Stanford tied the low round of the tournament so far by any team, 276 (8 under). If not for a triple bogey by Shimp on the final hole, all 5 players would have been under par for the day. I think this shows the potential for the team. I hope that Coach Ray is able to arrange to play in other tournaments before the Pac 12s at the end of April. Right now, there are no other tournaments or matches on the schedule.

[bbm233]

What looked like a real head scratcher after two rounds turned out OK. Cardinal is going to finish 6th out of 24 after crushing the field in the last round with -8. Only one other team broke par today.  The touted freshmen Vilips and Thorbjornsen led the way, finishing in the top 20 individually. There should be depth amongst the upper classmen, but can Coach Ray pick the right ones in the big tournaments?  Brown and Arasu were chosen this week, played great today, but not so much the first two rounds. Other choices are Shimp (who played this week), Daulet, and Snyder each came through when they won it all in 2019.

[winflop]

Glad to see they put up some great numbers today. I have faith in Coach Ray to find the right combination of upperclassmen to go with his two super-frosh.

[slide]

Glad to see they put up some great numbers today. I have faith in Coach Ray to find the right combination of upperclassmen to go with his two super-frosh.

agree with you winflop.

a friend had recently watched Shimp practice and said he was just striping it.  golf can be a very fickle mistress...

[pefloresjr]

Always better to finish strong if you have an uneven performance.  Especially happy to see that we rose 12 spots today while Cal dropped 10 spots.  Cal Sucks!  

Cheers,
Pete F.

[winflop]

Glad to see they put up some great numbers today. I have faith in Coach Ray to find the right combination of upperclassmen to go with his two super-frosh.

agree with you winflop.



a friend had recently watched Shimp practice and said he was just striping it.  golf can be a very fickle mistress...

Even as an avid golfer, I can watch these guys practice and most of them just stripe it on the range. It's different when you walk 18 with a group and see them face a wide variety of shots and make the occasional mistake. I've seen a freshman shoot 68 at Stanford and seen a senior who qualified for the US Open shoot 78.

Since they re-did the bunkers at Stanford in 2017-18, it's become a much tougher test for college golfers. Before then, most college players (men and women) would just bomb tee shots over the bunkers and half the field would finish under par. Since then, about 1/4 of the field finishes under par. If you're in the area, come tee it up. The course is in as good a shape as I've ever seen it in the 30+ years I've been playing it.

[slide]

I played the new layout in Sept 2019 or thereabouts.  I liked it but I miss the old #3.  

technology, even at my age, has taken its toll on how tough Stanford is -- the extra 20 to 30 yards makes a large difference.  overall much better conditioned (greens, bunkers etc).  I can see how our guys are shooting 60, 61 and 62 in practice rounds.  

it still is a great track.

[Spiny_Norman]

Stanford press release today with the schedule for the remainder of the spring season. It also included this which may answer the question about the lineup for the Prestige. Emphasis is mine.

The Cardinal began their season at The Prestige earlier this week with a sixth-place finish, despite a limited roster of student-athletes who had returned to campus previously. The remainder of the men's golf program returned to campus last week to begin its mandatory 10-day travel quarantine and medical onboarding process in preparation for the 2021 season.

The Cardinal is scheduled to play next in San Antonio on March 1 (assuming that all basic services have been restored by then following this week's winter storm). Full schedule here - https://gostanford.com/news/2021/2/18/me...ahead.aspx

[BobK]

Plus Hosting Santa Clara on Monday

[SF_Cardinal_Fan]

Is the relevance of a golf team's "line up" that those numbers are used when creating pairings of foursomes? For example, Stanford's #1 player will be paired with three  #1's from the other schools.

---

I played the new layout in Sept 2019 or thereabouts.  I liked it but I miss the old #3.  

technology, even at my age, has taken its toll on how tough Stanford is -- the extra 20 to 30 yards makes a large difference.  overall much better conditioned (greens, bunkers etc).  I can see how our guys are shooting 60, 61 and 62 in practice rounds.  

it still is a great track.

Hole #3 was a medium length par 3 and hole #4 a dogleg left par 4 which ran parallel to Sand Hill Road ? If I have that correct, how is the layout of holes now different from before?