The No. 12 Stanford men’s golf team tees off on Monday for the three-day NCAA Stanford Regional on its home course, playing host to 12 other teams and ten individuals.
The Cardinal are ranked second in the field and must place as the one of the top five teams over three rounds to qualify for the NCAA Championships from May 24-29 at Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Stanford will look to take advantage of its home course, fielding the five-man team of senior Brandon Wu, senior Isaiah Salinda, junior David Snyder, junior Henry Shimp and freshman Daulet Tuleubayev. Sophomore Nate Menon will serve as the substitute.
Wu and Salinda, the No. 11 and No. 29 ranked golfers in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, respectively, give the Cardinal a potent one-two punch and hope to post scores in the low 60s to give their team an edge in the playoff. Both golfers were All-PAC-12 first teams selections.
Wu in particular has been on a tear as of late, finishing sixth, 30th, second, third, first, fourth, 11th and seventh in his last seven matches. In those seven contests, he has posted an average score of 69.77, good for a combined score of 30-under par across the matches. His victory came at The Goodwin and was the first of his career.
As good as Wu has been recently, Salinda has nearly equaled him on the last three. He has finished sixth, first and fifth in his last three starts with an average of 69.2, shooting a career best 6-under-par 64 at the Western Intercollegiate to seal his first collegiate win.
Snyder, Shimp and Tuleubayev have all rounded to the form in the back stretch of the season as well and will be key in ensuring a solid and consistent performance for the Cardinal on its home course starting Monday.
This year is the fourth year that Stanford has hosted an NCAA Regional, the last occurrence coming in 2017 when Stanford won the tournament. The Cardinal hope to replicate those results this season.
Three rounds of play will run from Monday through Wednesday on the first ten holes of the Stanford Golf Course. Teams will count their top four scorers for each round and sum the scores to determine team rankings.
Starting tee times range from 8:30 a.m. to 11:04 a.m.
Contact Andrew Tan at tandrew ‘at’ stanford.edu.