On Tuesday afternoon, No. 3 Stanford women’s golf finished third in an 18-team field just 11 strokes off winner Northwestern after the final round of the Silverado Showdown in Napa, CA. The team shot a 17-over 881 with junior Ziyi Wang leading the way with a 3-over 219 through three rounds, good for a seventh-place tie individually.

The Cardinal got off to a solid start on Sunday, just six over par as a group after the first day of play. At this point, Stanford was well within reach of then-leader San Jose State who ended the day one stroke over par. The Spartans would fade later in the tournament, taking their mascot too literally and shooting 300 the next day, like the number of Greek soldiers at the famous Battle of Thermopylae.

Freshman Calista Reyes headed the Stanford effort in the opening round, blazing her way to a 1-over 71 with five birdies. Sophomore Kelsey Zeng chipped in a sound performance, 1-over 73, to help keep the Cardinal within striking distance on the next two days in Wine Country.

Monday’s second round saw Stanford bolster its position in the standings, as strong outings by Wang (2-under 70), Zeng (even-par 72) and a hole-in-one by freshman Aline Krauter highlighted a nice day for the Cardinal. By the end of the second round, Northwestern had moved into first setting a scorching pace with an overall 3-under 285. Stanford stood eleven strokes back of the Wildcats at the end of two.

Stanford would fall one place on Tuesday when No. 1 USC turned in a 2-under 286 for the second-best team score of the competition behind Northwestern’s the previous day. Ultimately, what set apart Northwestern and USC from the Cardinal was that each team came away with one outstanding round of golf while Stanford remained steady, but not exemplary in any round.

Next up for Stanford is the Pac-12 Championships on April 15-17 at Palos Verdes Estates, CA where the Cardinal will hope to get revenge on USC for its narrow loss this past weekend.

Contact Andrew Tan at tandrew ‘at’ stanford.edu.