April 10, 2012
STANFORD, Calif. -- - Stanford's men's golf team will return to action this weekend at the 66th Annual Western Intercollegiate at the Pasatiempo Golf Course in Santa Cruz, Calif.
Teams will tee off at 8:15 a.m. each day and play 36 holes on Saturday and 18 holes on Sunday, with the five best scores from each six-member team counting toward the team total.
The Alister MacKenzie-designed course will play at a length of 6,615 yards and a par of 70 for this event.
The field has no shortage of star power, as six of the nation's top-10 teams in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin rankings will compete for one of the oldest and most-valued championships in collegiate golf.
Top-ranked Texas, along with No. 3 USC, No. 5 California, No. 6 UCLA, No. 7 Oregon and No. 8 Stanford figure to be favorites for the team title. Denver, Hawaii, Hawaii-Hilo, Kansas, New Mexico State, San Diego State and UC Irvine round out the field.
Stanford finished tied for 11th in this event last year, 47 strokes behind first place UCLA, while Andrew Yun tied for second among the individuals, two strokes behind medalist Timothy Madigan of New Mexico State.
A total of 16 players in this year's field have won tournaments during the 2011-12 season, including Stanford freshman Patrick Rodgers, who captured the Fighting Illini Invitational at Olympia Fields in September.
Rodgers, currently ranked fourth by Golfweek, has seven top-10 finishes on the year and continues to lead the team in scoring average at 70.3. He is expected to be joined in the field by Dylan Fritelli and Jordan Spieth of Texas, currently ranked No. 1-2 by Golfweek, and UCLA's Patrick Cantlay, who was the low amateur at last week's Masters.
Rodgers is expected to be joined in Stanford's lineup by Yun, David Chung, Cameron Wilson, Patrick Grimes and Marcel Puyat, while Wilson Bowen will play as an individual.
The winner of the event is awarded the coveted Blue Jacket
Stanford is coming off a third place showing at the U.S. Intercollegiate, held March 30-April 1 on its home course. The Cardinal totaled 849 for the 54-hole event and finished eight strokes behind team champion Oregon.
The Western Intercollegiate will be Stanford's final tournament before the Cardinal enters its championship season, which begins with the Pac-12 Championships on April 27.