Golf teams come out strong in season openers

Stanford’s men’s and women’s golf teams kicked off their seasons last week, with the No. 2 women comfortably winning their opening tournament, while junior Maverick McNealy led the No. 5 men to a fourth-place finish in their opener.

No. 1 ranked Maverick McNealy started off the season shooting 7-under to win the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational. (SHIRLEY PEFLEY/stanfordphoto.com)

Seniors Mariah Stackhouse and Lauren Kim continued to display the form that helped the women’s team win its first national championship last spring. Stackhouse’s consistent play and mastery of the par-5s helped her score 7-under 212 in the Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational, good for second place individually.

Kim made up for bookend rounds of even par with a stellar second round in which she recorded six birdies against a single bogey. Kim’s tournament score of 5-under was seventh among all individuals.

“No surprise seeing Mariah and Lauren at the top of the leaderboard,” said head coach Anne Walker. “They are arguably the best one-two combo in the country and it’s great to have them leading our team.”

Stanford’s three other golfers contributed heavily to the Cardinal’s wire-to-wire victory, avoiding overlapping bad rounds and picking up much-needed birdies. Junior Casey Danielson started the tournament with one of her best collegiate rounds, an immaculate bogey-free 68.

Sophomore Shannon Aubert also started the tournament strong, following up a first-round 71 with a 70 in the second. Danielson and Aubert both finished in 12th place at 2-under par. The duo’s continued development is an encouraging sign for the Cardinal, giving them a strong top four that can compete with any team in the country.

While her teammates started strong, junior Quirine Eijkenboom saved her best performance for last, finishing with a team-low 72, highlighting the Cardinal’s talent throughout its roster. Eijkenboom’s solid round allowed the Cardinal to keep distance from the field despite having relatively high scores from their top four golfers.

The men’s team displayed a similar level of overall talent, taking fourth place in the 15-team Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational.

The tournament featured some of the strongest teams in the nation, but the toughest opponent during the three days seemed to be the course itself. Olympia Fields Country Club, which hosted the 2003 U.S. Open, proved to be an immense challenge, holding every team over par for the tournament.

McNealy, the defending Haskins Award winner and a recent participant in the U.S. Amateur and Walker Cup, managed the difficult course better than anyone else, shooting a 7-under 203 to win medalist honors.

While McNealy’s bogey-free 67 left him in good position to contend for the medal, his second round was even better. The junior aced the 15th hole with a towering 6-iron shot and birdied six other holes on the day to finish at 5-under 65. McNealy’s first and second rounds were the only under-par rounds Stanford recorded.

McNealy’s final round, a relatively uneventful 71, was enough to give him a three-shot victory over Illinois’ Thomas Detry. The win was McNealy’s second straight at this tournament and the seventh of his Stanford career.

The Cardinal avoided making many bogeys, which was good enough in such difficult scoring conditions. Junior Viraat Badhwar was one of the steadiest golfers in the field, making just eight bogeys en route to a 16th-place finish.

McNealy’s incredible play and Badhwar’s reliability give coach Conrad Ray’s team a chance to win tournaments and contend nationally later on. Like the women’s team last year, the Cardinal’s untested youth must develop before Stanford can take a step forward. For sophomores Franklin Huang and Bradley Knox, that means maintaining their promising play over 18 holes and eventually over the course of the tournament.

This weekend, the women’s team returns to Florida, the scene of its championship run, for the Annika Intercollegiate, the second of its four fall events. The men have the week off before traveling north to Portland, Oregon for the Nike Golf Collegiate Invitational on Oct. 4-6.

For both teams, the fall stretch is just the beginning of a long season that should last until the end of May. While showing good form is important, especially for the younger golfers, these teams will try to hit their peak, and live up to their expectations, later in the year.

Contact Sanjay Srinivas at sanjay_srinivas ‘at’ stanford.edu.