No. 3 Stanford women’s golf travelled to wine country for a three-day stay to compete in the Silverado Showdown, hosted by Oregon and Colorado at the Silverado Resort and Spa’s golf course. Stanford freshman Andrea Lee and senior Casey Danielson both placed in the top four individually, and the the Cardinal poured in birdies en route to a team score of 16-under, nine shots ahead of second-place UCLA, in the 54-hole tournament.
The Cardinal came out firing in the first round, going 5-under as a team, jumping out to a one shot lead over the No. 6 Bruins. The second round was really where the Cardinal hit their groove, posting a 12-under team score, the best in program history on 18 holes of competition golf.
Stanford’s low round was a birdie barrage from all angles, with Lee carding seven birdies in the round en route to a 4-under 68, Danielson and freshman Maddie Chou both adding another six birdies for a pair of 3-under 69s, and junior Shannon Aubert recording four birdies and a 71.
After the second round, Cardinal head coach Anne Walker was positive about her team’s performance.
“Today was fun to watch and coach,” she said. “The team played relaxed but focused. They were hitting quality golf shots and at the same time converting putts and making saves.”
That second round was indicative of the entire tournament for the Cardinal, as they led the field with 56 birdies total, nine more than the closest teams, UCLA and Colorado. The Bruins and Buffaloes were the only other teams under par for the competition, at 7-under and 4-under, respectively.
Rounding out the top five in the 18-team field featuring nine top-50 programs were No. 28 Cal and No. 13 Northwestern, both tied at 5-over.
Individually, UCLA sophomore Lilia Vu and Northwestern junior Hannah Kim split the medalist honors, both going 8-under through the three rounds.
Right behind them were Stanford’s Lee and Danielson, at 7-under and 5-under, good for third and a tie for fourth, respectively. Lee and Danielson got off to hot starts, going under par in the first two rounds, before a cooler final 18. Lee posted 68-68-73 and Danielson had 69-69-73 over the three days.
The Stanford team is back in action April 24-26 for the Pac-12 Championships.
Contact Jamie MacFarlane at jamiemac ‘at’ stanford.edu.