SANTA CRUZ, Calif. – Senior Isaiah Salinda churned out a 6-under-par 64, his lowest round on The Farm, to spark Stanford on Monday in the first round of the 73rd Western Intercollegiate at Alister MacKenzie-designed Pasatiempo Golf Club.
The Cardinal combined for a score of 4-over 354 and is tied for fifth in the 13-team tournament, eight strokes behind host San Jose State at 4-under 346.
The second round is Tuesday, followed by the final round Wednesday.
Salinda was in the zone all day. He forged seven birdies and just one bogey and toured the back nine in 4-under 31. Salinda birdied six of his last 13 holes, posting second nine birdies at 11, 13, 16 and 17.
He is tied for the lead with Justin Suh of USC and Sean Yu of San Jose State.
Salinda's previous best for showing for Stanford came in 2017, when he shot a 4-under 66 in the second round of the Western Intercollegiate and tied for fifth.
He is no stranger to low rounds. Last July, Salinda fired a 9-under 62 on the Lake Course at the Olympic Club in San Francisco in the third round of the Pacific Coast Amateur Championship to establish tournament and competitive course marks and went on to secure his first major amateur win. Olympic has hosted five U.S. Opens.
In a unique pairing format at the Western, two players from each team play with two opposing players.
The Cardinal plays with USC the first two days, with teams counting five-of-six scores.
Stanford senior Brandon Wu, looking to continue the momentum from his first college win two weeks ago at The Goodwin, added a 70 and is tied for 15th. Junior Henry Shimp and freshman Daulet Tulebayev added 73's, sophomore Nate Menon 74 and junior David Snyder 75.
Competing individually, freshmen Freddie Lee (69) and Ethan Ng (72) are tied for ninth and 34th, respectively. Both collected eagles, Lee at the par-5 ninth and Ng at the par-5 sixth.
On Tuesday, the Cardinal starts at 1:18 p.m. on the first tee. Golf Channel will provide live coverage from 4-7 p.m. and live scoring is available at GoStanford.com.
