Pac-12 Conference Championships
Friday-Sunday, April 29-May 1
The Country Club (Par 71 • 7,209 yards) • Salt Lake City, Utah
On the Web • GoStanford.com
Live Results • GoStanford.com
Television • Pac-12 Networks will air coverage of the championships on Sunday at 10 a.m. PT. Greg Heister and Kay Cockerill will call the action.
Cardinal Contingent • Maverick McNealy, David Boote, Brandon Wu, Franklin Huang, Jeffrey Swegle, Viraat Badhwar
Social Hour • @StanfordMGolf • #GoStanford
The Lowdown
• No. 4 Stanford seeks a third straight league title when it travels to The Country Club in Salt Lake City for the Pac-12 Conference Championships. The Cardinal could become the first program to win three consecutive Pac-12 crowns since Arizona State copped six from 1995-2000.
• The Cardinal is coming off a team win at the Western Intercollegiate, its lone win on the season, but has earned nine top-10 showings in 10 events. Stanford has five top-five finishes in 2015-16.
• Stanford is paced by the nation’s top-ranked golfer (Golfstat and Golfweek individual ranking), junior Maverick McNealy (69.04 stroke average, four medalist honors). McNealy has won 10 times in his career and trails the school record of 11 victories shared by Tiger Woods and Patrick Rodgers.
• In 27 rounds, Maverick McNealy has posted a score in the 60s in 16 rounds. The average score for those 16 rounds was 66.6.
• David Boote (71.07) has seven top 25 finishes this season.
• Entering the Pac-12 Championships, Maverick McNealy’s 69.04 season stroke average is the second-best in NCAA history. Wake Forest’s Bill Haas set the benchmark (68.93) in 2003-04. At the conclusion of the 2014-15 season, McNealy’s 69.05 average ranked second.
• There are 30 golfers in the Pac-12 with sub-73 averages, including Maverick McNealy (1st - 69.04), David Boote (7th - 71.07), Brandon Wu (17th - 72.21), Jeffrey Swegle (21st - 72.39) and Viraat Badhwar (26th - 72.67). Wu’s mark is the second-best of any freshman.
• This will be the third straight Pac-12 Championships for juniors Viraat Badhwar and Maverick McNealy.
• The Pac-12 is well represented with three players among the 10 semifinalists for the Ben Hogan Award -- Maverick McNealy, Arizona State’s Jon Rahm, and Oregon’s Aaron Wise. The most prestigious award in men’s college golf, The Ben Hogan Award is presented annually to the top men’s NCAA Division I, II or III, NAIA or NJCAA college golfer taking into account all collegiate and amateur competitions during the past 12-month period.
• Three Pac-12 golfers will participate in the 2016 Palmer Cup. Stanford’s Maverick McNealy and USC’s Rico Hoey will represent the United States, while Stanford’s David Boote (Wales) will represent the European squad. The annual Ryder Cup-style competition will be played June 24-26 at Formby (England) Golf Club.
The Format
• Seventy-two holes of stroke play golf over three days of competition shall decide the Pac-12 championships. The 36-hole day of competition will fall on the first day of the tournament. The championship will be played in groups of three to ensure competition is completed on time.
• In the event of a tie for the team championship, NCAA team tie-breaking procedures shall be followed to determine the champion. If there are three or more teams involved in a playoff, the shotgun format listed in the 2016 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship Handbook shall be used. For a two team playoff holes will be holes 18, 10 and 11 played in a loop until a champion is determined. If a shotgun format is needed, holes 10, 11, 12, 16, 17 and 18 will be used.
• In the event of a tie for the individual championship, a sudden-death playoff shall be held immediately after the conclusion of the final round to determine the champion. If the tie is between members of the same team, the playoff shall be held at the discretion of that team’s coach, who shall be allowed to determine whether a playoff shall be held. If a playoff is not held, the individuals shall be declared co-champions. In the case of a playoff, holes 18, 10 and 11 will be played in a loop until a champion is determined.
The Scoring
• The five players with the low scores on a team for any 18-hole round shall constitute the scoring members of the team for that round (6-count-5), and the team with the lowest total combined score for all rounds shall be the team champion.
The Course
• This marks the first year for the Pac-12 Championships to be held in Salt Lake City. The Country Club is one of the oldest clubs in the western United States. Founded in 1899, it has had a rich history of excellence. The Club is located on the southeast side of Salt Lake City in the foothills of the Wasatch mountain range just 10 minutes from downtown Salt Lake. The Country Club was the site of many PGA events over the years including the Utah State Golf Championships, the Utah State Amateur, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby’s USO Charity golf tournament, and the 44th Western Open Championship. The Country Club played host to the Western Athletic Conference Championships in 1975.
The 2015 Pac-12 Championships
• Stanford successfully defended its Pac-12 title by posting a 14-stroke victory at the Palouse Ridge Golf Club in Pullman, Washington. The Cardinal trailed by 14 strokes heading into the fourth round, but were led by McNealy’s course record-tying final round of 9-under 61 to cruise to victory. McNealy posted a Pac-12 Championship record four-round low score of 262 (18-under) to earn Pac-12 medalist honors with a 10-stroke victory. McNealy was named the Pac-12 Men’s Golfer of the Year.
The History
• Stanford clinched the inaugural Pac-12 title in 1960 and has since won the conference championships in 1968, 1970, 1974, 1977, 1992, 1994, 2014 and 2015.
2015 • Palouse Ridge Golf Club (Pullman, Wash.)
2014 • The Gallery Golf Club (Marana, Ariz.)
1994 • Tucson National Golf Course (Tucson, Ariz.)
1992 • Trysting Tree Golf Course (Corvallis, Ore.)
1977 • Stanford Golf Course (Stanford, Calif.)
1974 • Stanford Golf Course (Stanford, Calif.)
1970 • Mira Vista Country Club (Richmond, Calif.)
1968 • Los Angeles Country Club (Los Angeles, Calif.)
1960 • Stanford Golf Course (Stanford, Calif.)
• Stanford holds claim to 22 individual league medalists, tied with USC for the conference lead. The Pac-12 champions to wear the cardinal and white include Pete Choate (1960, 1962), Sandy Adelman (1969), Mike Peck (1977, 1978), Jack Skilling (1980), Don Walsworth (1986), Christian Cevaer (1989, 1992), Tiger Woods (1996), Jim Seki (2002), Andrew Yun (2012), Patrick Rodgers (2014) and Maverick McNealy (2015).
• In 1996, Tiger Woods’ 61 at the par-72 Big Canyon Country Club in Newport Beach, California, was the second-lowest single round score in the history of the Pac-12 Championships. Only Paul Casey’s collegiate-record 60 in the 1999 league meet was lower. Woods fired a Pac-12 Championships record 11-under in his round.