Spring for the AgesSpring for the Ages
Todd Drexler/SESPORTSMEDIA.com
Men's Golf

Spring for the Ages

STANFORD, Calif. – Clicking at the right time, the 2018-19 Stanford men's golf team won its last five tournaments and culminated an unforgettable season by capturing the program's ninth NCAA Championship in late May at Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
 
Led by senior All-Pac-12 first team performers Isaiah Salinda and Brandon Wu, the Cardinal surged to season-ending victories at The Goodwin, Western Intercollegiate, Pac-12 Championships and NCAA Stanford Regional to earn one of 30 spots at the NCAA Championships.
 

 
The red-hot Cardinal arrived carrying a No. 12 national ranking but was considered a longshot by most to bring home the school's first NCAA trophy since 2007.
 
Top-ranked Oklahoma State won the 72-hole stroke play portion of the championships by 31 strokes and seemed invincible to most. That fueled Stanford, which was determined to make the most of its underdog role.
 
The Cardinal started strong in stroke play and seemed certain of securing one of eight match play berths. Stanford sputtered in the early going in Round 4 and slipped to seventh before steadying on the back nine on the demanding 7,500-yard Robert Trent Jones Jr. layout.
 
Freshman Daulet Tuleubayev eagled 15, while Wu, Salinda and junior David Snyder supplied late birdies to help Stanford finish sixth and advance to match play for the first time since 2014.
 

 
Facing third-seeded Wake Forest in the quarterfinals, the scrappy Snyder sealed a tense 3-2 victory by sinking a slippery eight-foot par putt on the final hole. In the afternoon semifinals against second-seeded Vanderbilt, Tuleubayev delivered.

A native of Almaty, Kazakhstan and graduate of The Harker School in San Jose, Tuleubayev was 4-up with four holes remaining, then lost three-straight. With the Golf Channel cameras rolling, he piped a drive at 18, then flushed what Conrad Ray, the Knowles Family Director of Men's Golf, called one of best 5-irons he'd ever seen to 24 feet and buried the birdie putt to give his team a 3-2 win.
 

 
"Coach Ray helped me turn that pressure into excitement," said Tuleubayev. "It was an opportunity for attention, and I love showing off."
 
Stanford caught a break when Texas upset Oklahoma State in the other semifinal. In the final, the fifth-seeded Longhorns led early, but the upstart Cardinal wasn't to be denied. Ray sent junior Henry Shimp, Salinda and Wu off first, hoping to set the tone and the strategy worked perfectly. All three secured wins, with Shimp clinching the crown and 3-2 outcome with a two-putt par at 17.
 
"I'm just so proud of these guys," said Ray, who was named Dave Williams Division I National Coach of the Year and Golfweek Coach of the Year. "It's the longest week in golf."
 

 
Team captains Salinda and Wu (along with senior Chris Meyers) wrapped up memorable careers with spectacular springs and went 3-0 in match play in their final appearances for the Cardinal.
 
"I couldn't think of a better way for it to end," said Salinda, who broke through with individual wins at the Western Intercollegiate and NCAA Stanford Regional.

Wu also tallied his first collegiate victory at The Goodwin.
 
"It's crazy," Wu said. "You can't script a better ending to your career."
 

 
The five consecutive victories were the most by Stanford since 2013-14, when it closed with four in a row. In its last four starts prior to the NCAA Championships, the Cardinal was an accumulative 48-under. Stanford won its fourth Pac-12 title in six years and 11th overall at Eugene Country Club in Oregon by seven shots over UCLA.
 

 
Playing one of the most challenging schedules in the country, Stanford finished outside the top-10 only once in 11 stroke play tournaments.
 
Salinda and Wu shared team honors with six top 10-finishes.
 
Salinda posted five top-6 showings, including his last five events and his t-6 at the NCAA Championships paced the squad for the second consecutive year. Wu had a torrid spring and placed 15th or higher in his last seven tournaments with five top-6's.


 
The scrappy Snyder registered three top-10's and earned two runner-up finishes, losing in a playoff to Wu at The Goodwin and tied for second at the NCAA Stanford Regional.
 
Shimp had one top-10 and four top-30s, while Tuluebayev also cracked the top-10 once and placed 26th or higher in three of his last four events.
 

 
Wu made the All-Pac-12 first team for the second straight year, while Salinda accomplished it after earning honorable mention the last two seasons. Snyder also made the second team and Tuleubayev was honorable mention All-Pac-12 and honorable mention All-Freshmen.