STANFORD, Calif. – The Stanford women’s golf team put together a balanced performance on the first day of the Stanford Intercollegiate hosted by Condoleezza Rice as five golfers shot a 1-over or better Friday at Stanford Golf Course.
“I am really pleased with the way we played today, shooting under par on a tough golf course,” Margot and Mitch Milias Director of Women's Golf Anne Walker said “USC is a terrific team that went low today but we are the type of team that can have that kind of a day tomorrow.”
Four Cardinal golfers combined to shoot a 1-under through the first 18 holes to place them in a tie for third overall with Oregon. Stanford sits just one shot back of second-place Washington and trails the day-one leader, USC, by seven strokes.
“For me, what stands out is there wasn’t a team in the field that had five better scores than we had across the board, and I am very happy about that,” said Walker.
Mariah Stackhouse had the strongest day for the Cardinal. She put together four birdies to finish with a 3-under 68 on the day. Her 3-under has her tied for second individually with Washington’s Charlotte Thomas. The two golfers are two shots off of the leader, Sophia Popov of USC, who shot a 5-under 66 to start things off.
“It was pretty typical Mariah,” said Walker. “She has been really focused this week and has prepared well. She knows this golf course. Today she didn’t do anything fancy, but she knew what she was doing. She kept it inside the lines so that she could have a shot at the championship on Sunday.”
Lauren Kim was even on the day with her 71 and tied for 16th overall. Three Cardinal golfers shot a 1-over 72 as Quirine Eijkenboom, Marissa Mar and Mariko Tumangan are all tied for 22nd. Mar’s performance came as an individual while the other two rounded out the team scoring for Stanford. Eijkenboom’s day included five birdies.
The top hole on the day for the Cardinal group came on the 473-yard par-five 12th, where Casey Danielson posted an eagle. It was one of three eagles on the first day of the tournament.
Saturday’s action will begin at 8:30 a.m. (PT) with groups teeing off from holes one and 10.
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