HARTFORD, Wis. – Patrick Rodgers’ 7-under 209 propelled the Stanford men’s golf team to hoist the Erin Hills Intercollegiate hardware, as the three-round event wrapped up Tuesday at Erin Hills Golf Course.
Stanford’s 13-under 851 bettered second-place UCLA by eight strokes, with Southern Methodist and Oklahoma tying for third at 863 among the 14-team field.
The Cardinal carded respective rounds of 280-285-286 at the par-72, 7,234-yard course, which is slated to play host to the 2017 U.S. Open.
To end his path to the individual title, Rodgers was nearly bogey-free in the final round, standing at 4-under for the day until recording a six on the par-5, 637-yard 18th. Rodgers shot an even-par 72 in round two and used five birdies to help close his opening round with a 68.
Warming up at Erin Hills Intercollegiate @StanfordMGolf @PRodgersGolf @Jliugolf pic.twitter.com/zNBJhLPS2t— Philip Rowe (@CardCoachRowe) October 5, 2013
Rodgers was one of four Cardinal to finish in the top 10, flanked by David Boote (71-72-71), Cameron Wilson (69-72-73) and Jim Liu (72-69-74). Boote and Wilson tied for sixth with a 2-under 214 while Liu checked in at 1-under to tie for 10th.
The win was the sixth of Rodgers' collegiate career.
Liu and fellow freshman Maverick McNealy (72-75-73) each shot even-par in the opening round. McNealy found himself tied for 25th to close the tournament.
At one point, each of Stanford’s five student-athletes were in the top five.
The highlight of Boote's 2-under showing came in the second round. After bogeying holes 3-4-5, Boote aced the par-3, 208-yard sixth. He would birdie two of the next eight holes before a bogey at 18 left him at even-par.
Boote was 2-under in the 30 holes following his ace.
Wilson twice eagled the par-5 14th, the former coming during a bogey-free 69 to open the event. He settled for a birdie on 14 in his final round, dominating the hole at 5-under during the invite.
Wilson went without a bogey on the front nine until round three, when he made the turn at 2-over as a trio of bogeys offset his birdie on the par-5 first hole.
After opening with a 72, Liu sandwiched a bogey on the par-4 fifth in round two with a quartet or birdies for his 69. Liu shot off a 10-spot on the par-5 first to begin round three and rattled off five birdies until a double bogey on 18 kept him from finishing at even par.
Does it get any better than this? @ErinHillsGolf pic.twitter.com/Xjrcbz1F7W
— Conrad Ray (@cardcoachray) October 8, 2013
UCLA’s Jonathan Garrick broke the Erin Hills course record Tuesday with a 7-under 65. The previous record (66) was set by Ben Geyer and Mike Ignasiak at the 2011 U.S. Amateur Championship. Garrick’s classmate, Lorens Chan, broke the Erin Hills back-nine record by carding a 30 on the final nine holes.
The Cardinal resumes competition Oct. 18-20 with the United States Collegiate Championship at the Golf Club of Georgia in Alpharetta, Ga.
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