April 22, 2008
STANFORD, Calif. - The No. 7 Stanford men's golf team is gearing up for the 49th Annual Pac-10 Conference Men's Golf Championships being held at the par-71, 6,686 yard Meadow Club in Fairfax, Calif. beginning on April 28. The 72-hole, three-day tournament will crown one conference champion from the 10 member-institutions and will be the final three rounds for each team before beginning NCAA competition.
The opening two rounds are Monday, April 28 with a 7:30 a.m. start time. The third round is on Tuesday and the final round is scheduled for Wednesday, both having an 8 a.m. start time.
Stanford is grouped with No. 48 California and will begin from the 10th tee at 8:42 a.m. on Monday. The five individuals from each team with the lowest scores for any 18-hole round constitute the scoring members of the team for that given round. The team championship will be awarded to the squad with the lowest total combined score for all rounds.
Stanford will again be looking for a big performance from freshman Sihwan Kim. Kim is currently averaging 71.2 strokes per round and has recorded 13 under-par rounds. In nine tournaments this year, he has finished in the top five on the leaderboard five times, including one tournament crown and two second and third place finishes. Kim is coming off a stellar performance at the U.S. Intercollegiate, where he tied for second with an overall score of 208, he second lowest of the year.
Stanford will also need support from freshman Steve Ziegler, who has been getting better with each tournament he has played in. Ziegler recently tied for seventh at the U.S. Intercollegiate and shot 211 overall, his season low and a score he has twice hit this season. Senior Rob Grube should also play a significant part for the Cardinal in his final Pac-10 tournament. Grube's best finish came at the UH-Hilo Invitational in February, where he shot his low-round of the season, 65, and an 11-under-par 199.
Last year, USC, who is currently ranked No. 3, posted the best score in the field each of the Pac-10 Tournament's three days, finishing five strokes off the tournament record of 56-under par, achieved by Arizona State in 2000, earning them the Pac-10 title. UCLA placed second, while Arizona State finished third. Stanford came in fourth, but regrouped to come back and win the 2007 NCAA Championship later in the year.
For live scoring, please visit gostanford.com, and also at the Pac-10 website.
Admission to the 2008 Pac-10 Men's Golf Championship is free.