EUGENE, Ore. – The Stanford men’s golf team saw its season come to a close Sunday as it wrapped up the NCAA Championships in 28th place.
Stanford (292-294-298) was 18-over on the day and 44-over through 54 holes at the par-70 Eugene Country Club.
“It’s a team game, and we weren’t firing on all cylinders,” said Conrad Ray, Stanford’s Knowles Family Director of Men’s Golf. “We’ll have to go back and see why that was, and hopefully it will make us better in the future. It’s disappointing, considering that our guys are motivated to win and motivated to have high expectations.
“I’m proud of our team. We put in a lot of hard work and preparation throughout the season. Sometimes it’s the way the game goes. Sometimes you do all you can do and it doesn’t go your way. It’s not losing, it’s learning.”
The 2015-16 campaign for the Cardinal featured three team wins, including a third straight Pac-12 Conference title.
Ending his Stanford career was senior David Boote, who led the squad with a 50th-place showing at 6-over. Boote (69-73-74) closed his final back nine at 1-over.
Franklin Huang (75-75-72, +12), Maverick McNealy (76-71-76, +13), Brandon Wu (73-75-76, +14) and Jeffrey Swegle (75-76-76, +19) each finished outside of the top 100.
McNealy matched Boote’s 1-over back nine while Wu was even on the final half. Huang’s 1-under on the front was four shots better than the next Cardinal in line.
Fifteen teams remain in contention after the third round of stroke play. Led by Vanderbilt, the 15 teams to advance to the fourth and final round of stroke play include Texas, Southern California, LSU, host Oregon, Arkansas, Arizona State, California, Oklahoma State, Illinois, Kentucky, South Carolina, Florida, Louisville and Oklahoma.
The Commodores remain atop the leaderboard after shooting a 2-over 282 to sit at 5-over after three rounds. Matthias Schwab carded a 3-under 67 to lead Vanderbilt, while Carson Jacobs shot an even-par 70.
Sitting atop the individual leaderboard is Oregon’s Aaron Wise, as the sophomore posted the lowest round of the tournament so far, firing a 6-under 64.
Drama ensued near the end of Sunday’s round as a five-way tie for 14th came down to the wire. TCU, which had been above the cut line going into the final hole, fell out and needed a birdie from Paul Barjon on the 18th to jump Oklahoma and remain in the field. However, Barjon was only able to make par.