STANFORD, Calif. – For the 11th time in the last 14 years, Stanford will tee it up in the NCAA Men's Golf Championships, May 24-30 at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Thirty teams will compete for the national title.
The Cardinal is coming off an impressive second-place showing at the NCAA Pacific Regional at The Reserve at Spanos Park in Stockton, California. Stanford combined for a final-round 11-under-par 277 -- the best score by any team during the 54-hole event. The third-seeded Cardinal concluded at 19-under 845, one stroke behind Kansas.
It was impressive outing for Stanford, which closed the regular strong against stellar competition, placing third at The Goodwin, sixth at the Western Intercollegiate and fourth at the Pac-12 Championships. Stanford has produced six top five finishes.
"Our guys are believing in themselves and our preparation," said Conrad Ray, the Knowles Family Director of Men's Golf. "There's no team in the tournament we haven't played against this season."
The Cardinal is seeded 16th.
"There's so many good teams in college golf," Ray said. "To have a seat at the table with that group is a nice accomplishment. Anything can happen."
Ray believes the low seeding could motivate his players.
"We're kind of an underdog," he said. "I think our guys like that challenge."
This year, a new substitution rule can be used at the regionals and NCAA Championships. Head coaches will be allowed to replace a player prior to any round due to a physical ailment or poor play.
Only one Cardinal player – senior Franklin Huang – has played the course, the home track of top-ranked and No. 1 seed Oklahoma State.
"Basically, you live and die with the driver," said Ray. "There's a lot of scrub brush, big, sloping greens, and you have to keep the ball below the hole. You have to be brave."
Thursday-Wednesday, May 24-30
Karsten Creek Golf Club • Stillwater, Oklahoma
7.460 yards/Par-72
The Tournament
• NCAA Championships
• Live Results • GoStanford.com
The Field
Thirty teams and six individual will compete.
Oklahoma State (1), Texas A&M (2), Oklahoma (3), Vanderbilt (4), Alabama (5), Florida (6), Auburn (7), Illinois (8), Baylor (9), Texas Tech (10), Clemson (11), Texas (12), North Carolina (13), Brigham Young (14), Kansas (15), Stanford (16), Arkansas (17), Arizona State (18), UNLV (19), North Florida (20), Kentucky (21), UCLA (22), Duke (23), Kent State (24), Oregon (25), Northwestern (26), N.C. State (27), Iowa State (28), Central Florida (29) and Augusta (30).
Cardinal Contingent
• Stanford will be represented by senior Franklin Huang, junior Isaiah Salinda, sophomore David Snyder, senior Jeffrey Swegle and junior Brandon Wu. Sophomore Henry Shimp is the alternate.
The Format
• Three days of stroke play, with the top 15 teams and nine individuals not on an advancing team moving on to the final day of stroke play. The top eight teams advance to match play to determine an overall champion.
The Schedule
• Friday, May 25: First round of stroke play
• Saturday, May 26: Second round of stroke play
• Sunday, May 27: Third round of stroke play
• Monday, May 28: Final round of stroke play
• Tuesday, May 30: Quarterfinals and semifinals of team match play
• Wednesday, May 30: Championship match
Tee times
• Stanford begins first round play on Friday at 7:00 a.m. CT on the 10th tee with Arkansas and Arizona State. The Cardinal begins second round play at 12:20 p.m. CT on the 1st tee Arkansas and Arizona State. Third and fourth round pairing will be determined by team scores.
The Lowdown
• Stanford is participating in the NCAA Championships for the 11th time in the last 14 years. The Cardinal has captured eight national titles, previously winning in 2007, 1994, 1953, 1946, 1942, 1941, 1939 and 1938. Stanford has produced three individual winners: Cameron Wilson (2014), Tiger Woods (1996) and Frank "Sandy" Tatum (1942).
• Wu finished second at the NCAA Pacific Regional with a career-best score of 14-under 202, shooting rounds of 67-67-68. An All-Pac-12 first team selection in 2017-18, he has posted four top 10 showings and has led the squad in five of 11 tournaments.
• Huang has four top 10s, while Salinda has three tops 10s.
• Swegle fired a career-best 8-under 63 at The Goodwin at Harding Park Golf Course in San Francisco, tied for the fourth-lowest score in program history. He posted a career-high second place finish.
The Course
• Karsten Creek Golf Club will host the 2018 NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Golf Championships. Karsten Creek has previously hosted the NCAA Men's Golf Championships in 2003 and 2011.
• Karsten Creek was built in 1994 for the Oklahoma State golf teams. It was designed by Tom Fazio and honored as the "Best New Public Course" for 1994 by Golf Digest Magazine. It can be stretched more than 7,400 yards with SR1020 bent-grass greens and zoysia fairways. All of the holes were carved out around the native oak trees surrounding Lake Louise.
• In the May 1998 edition of Golf Digest, Karsten Creek Golf Club was awarded its first five-star rating, making the course one of 10 in the nation to be so honored. Since that time, the course has gone on to receive numerous accolades. Karsten Creek joined the likes of Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill Golf Course and Pinehurst Resort and Country Club (No. 2). Four of these courses have hosted major championships, and most of the others maintain national prominence. While other courses are located in resort areas or near the coasts, Karsten Creek's surprising beauty is derived from an unsuspecting tract of land that is densely covered with black jack and pin oak trees and contains dramatic elevation changes that are not common to the heartland of America. As the course continues to mature, it steadily climbs all of the top 100 lists across the country and has been ranked as the best college course in the country by Travel & Leisure Golf magazine.
The Coverage • Live results will be available throughout the event at GoStanford.com, with updates available on Twitter (@StanfordMgolf), Facebook (StanfordMgolf) and Instagram (@StanfordMgolf).
Golf Channel will provide live coverage on May 28 from 3-7 p.m. ET, May 29 from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 3-7 p.m. ET, and May 30 from 3-7 p.m. ET.
