May 28, 2012
STANFORD, Calif. -- - Stanford will continue its quest for its ninth NCAA Men's Golf Championship beginning on Tuesday at the venerable Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif.
The 30-team field will play 54-holes of stroke play over three days, with the top eight teams advancing to the single-elimination, match play format that will be used to determine the national championship.
The Cardinal, which earned a spot in the field by virtue of its fourth place finish at the Stanford Regional, will be joined by Alabama, Alabama-Birmingham, Auburn, California, Central Florida, East Carolina, Georgia, Iowa, Lamar, Liberty, Florida, Florida State, Illinois, Kent State, Memphis, North Florida, Oklahoma, Oregon, San Diego State, Tennessee-Chattanooga, Texas, Texas A&M, TCU, Tulsa, UCLA, USC, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Washington.
Alabama (Athens), Liberty (Greensboro), Washington (Norman), UT-Chattanooga (Bowling Green), USC (Ann Arbor) and California (Stanford) each finished first in their respective regionals to earn a trip to Pacific Palisades.
Stanford, seeded ninth in the field, will be paired with Oregon and Washington for the first 36 holes of the event. The Cardinal, Ducks and Huskies will tee off at 1:10 p.m. on Tuesday and 7:50 a.m. on Wednesday.
Teams will be repaired according to the standings for the final 18 holes on Thursday. Seedings for the match play portion of the event will be determined by order of finish in the stroke play competition.
Stanford has won eight NCAA team crowns, most recently in 2007, when the Cardinal posted an 11-stroke victory over Georgia at the Golden Horseshoe Golf Club in Williamsburg, Va. The Cardinal narrowly missed out on repeating as national championships the following year, finishing on stroke behind UCLA in West Lafayette, Ind.
The Cardinal failed to qualify for the match play portion of the 2009 NCAA Championships held at the Inverness Country Club in Toledo, Ohio and were defeated by Oklahoma State, 4-1 in the first round of match play in 2010 at the Honors Course in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Stanford did not qualify for the NCAA Championships last season after finishing sixth at the Central Regional.
Stanford's seven other NCAA crowns came in 1938, '39, '41, '42, '46, '53 and '94.
Knowles Family Director of Golf Conrad Ray is expected to enter a lineup consisting of (in order) Patrick Rodgers, Andrew Yun, Cameron Wilson, Patrick Grimes and Steven Kearney.
Rodgers who was one of three finalists for the Hogan Award won by Patrick Cantlay of UCLA, has nine top 10 finishes in his 11 events this season, including a pair of wins. His current stroke average of 70.6 is tied with Tiger Woods (1995-96) for second on Stanford's all-time single-season list, slightly behind Joel Kribel's school-record mark of 70.1 set in 1998-99.
The Pac-12's Freshman of the Year has shot par or better in 25 of his 34 competitive rounds this season.
Yun is coming off a tie for 15th at the Stanford Regional, where he shot rounds of 72-69-68 to finish at three-under 207. A two-time first team all-conference selection, Yun has six top-10's this season, including a win at the Pac-12 Championships.
Wilson has been steady at the No. 3 position and is coming off a 22nd place showing at the Stanford Regional after rounds of 70-70-69 on the Cardinal's home course.
Grimes, a freshman from Palo Alto, has been a fixture in the lineup for the last three tournaments while Kearney returns to the lineup for the first time since the Stanford Intercollegiate in late March.
"We made a little bit of a lineup change in the fifth spot, with Kearney joining us," said Ray. "It's tough not having David (Chung) there, but his game is in a bit of a funk right now and I felt we needed to shuffle the deck a little bit."
Ray feels the unique format of the NCAA Championships, where the eight low teams from the 54-hole stroke play competition advance to match play, can open the door for a lot of teams to claim the crown.
"The match play format certainly brings a lot of teams into the picture. You have to get there first, obviously. But match play will take a team with five guys who can really go low and turn them into just one point. It's a unique way to crown a champion and Riviera is a great match play course."
Ray says resiliency, a hot putter and a short-term memory are the keys to success in match play.
"All of our guys have played a lot of match play on different levels throughout their careers. At the end of the day, you still have to hit quality shots."
Riviera Country Club, with its tricky, bent grass greens and kikuya fairways, will present a formidable test for the field.
"It's a championship course, not doubt about it," said Ray. "Our guys are very excited about playing a course that has produced so many great champions over the years."
About the Riviera Country Club
Opened in 1927, the Riviera Country Club's George Thomas-designed golf course has, since its inception, served as the venue for championship golf in Southern California. From MacDonald Smith's second title in 1929 to Ernie Els' first title 70 years later, the PGA Tour's Los Angeles Open has been a regular event at the club. The classic Riviera layout has also produced many other champions, such as Byron Nelson, Sam Snead, Tom Watson, Johnny Miller, Nick Faldo, Fred Couples, Craig Stadler, Hale Irwin and, of course, Ben Hogan.
Indeed, Riviera has long been known within golfing circles as "Hogan's Alley", a nickname bestowed upon it by three-time Masters champion Jimmy Demaret after Hogan won the 1947 and 1948 Los Angeles Opens and the 1948 U.S. Open at the Club within a span of 18 months. That U.S. Open, the first event to be played West of the Mississippi, would be followed in turn by the 1983 PGA Championship (won by Hal Sutton by one shot over Jack Nicklaus), the 1995 PGA Championship (won by Steve Elkington over Colin Montgomerie in a playoff), and the 1998 U.S. Senior Open (won by Hale Irwin), providing Riviera with a championship legacy matched by few others.
Notable holes include number ten, a driveable par four that yields birdies and double bogeys with equal swiftness, and a massive par four at number fifteen that plays directly into the ocean breezes. The monumental par five 17th hole measures 578 yards, all uphill.
The finishing hole is a world-famous 454-yard par four that plays to an elevated fairway, then requires a long second shot to a narrow green. The green is surrounded by a natural amphitheater, providing a commanding view of the Clubhouse.Today, Riviera remains one of golf's few genuine classics, with a course layout that is virtually unaltered, yet every bit as great and testing as the day it was opened. Listed prominently in every recognized domestic and international course rating, its combination of layout, history and proven excellence as a major tournament venue makes Riviera one of the world's great tournament sites. (Courtesy of Riviera Country Club).