After a nearly seven-month-long season, Stanford women’s golf begins its postseason next Wednesday at the Pac-12 Championships in Boulder, Colorado.
The Cardinal look to replicate their success from last year, when they passed UCLA on the final day to win the conference title. However, top-ranked Washington and fourth-ranked UCLA will provide strong competition against the Cardinal.
Since arriving at Stanford three years ago, junior Mariah Stackhouse has deservedly received several national accolades. In addition to All-Conference and All-American first team honors last season, Stackhouse has made appearances in the U.S. Women’s Open, the Curtis Cup and even Good Morning America.
Stackhouse started this season much like her previous two: quickly. She shot par or lower a whopping seven times in Stanford’s first four tournaments. Stanford’s scoring golfers have scored 3-over on average this season, a solid if unspectacular number. Stackhouse gives the Cardinal the chance to score low. In her freshman year, she posted a 10-under 61 at the Peg Barnard Invitational, an NCAA women’s record. While Stackhouse has struggled to find that form in the second half of this season, her stellar overall game, coupled with her third-place finish at the Pac-12 Championships last year, project her as a major contender this year.
In light of Stackhouse’s numerous accomplishments, Lauren Kim has flown under the radar this season. The junior, also a reigning member of the WGCA All-America first team, has been the Cardinal’s top finisher at five of Stanford’s nine total events. The hallmark of Kim’s play this season has been her consistency; all but two of her rounds this season have been 76 or under. In the collegiate scoring system, where each team’s top five scores are added up, dependable scoring like Kim’s is crucial.
After Marissa Mar’s departure at the end of last season, coach Anne Walker’s team needed one of the younger golfers on the team to step up and regularly score in the top five. While no one has been able to consistently join Stackhouse, Kim and sophomore Casey Danielson, Shannon Aubert has shown considerable promise and figures to break into the top five next season.
Aubert, a freshman, started her Stanford career brilliantly, shooting a final-round 67 en route to a third-place finish at the season-opening Annika Intercollegiate. After an uneven middle of the season, Aubert ended on a high note, scoring 3-over through three rounds and tying for 20th at the Arizona State Invitational. Like Stackhouse, Aubert has had several rounds on both ends of the spectrum this season. While this is somewhat expected for a freshman, it makes her an unknown for the Cardinal next week. If Aubert can round out Stanford’s top five with a score close to par, she can help make a dent against top-to-bottom contenders like the Huskies and Bruins.
Contact Sanjay Srinivas at ssri16 ‘at’ stanford.edu.