One Step Closer

STOCKTON, Calif. - Stanford men's golf is in second place at the NCAA Stockton Regional following 36 holes at The Reserve at Spanos Park. The Cardinal is 19-under (557) and just two strokes off Arizona State's lead. Junior Barclay Brown is in a six-way tie for the lead at 7-under.

"Our guys did a great job managing their games and staying steady even though we didn't make as many putts or capitlize on a few scoring chances," Knowles Family Director of Men's Golf Conrad Ray said. "Scoring was low, but playing with the lead is always a bit tougher. We have had a great game plan and are doing a good job of mitigating scores over bogey. Our goal has been to get as many looks at birdies as we can and trust that the putts will drop. We will try to continue down that path tomorrow."

For the second straight day, all four Cardinal scorers fired rounds under par, led by Brown's and Michael Thorbjornsen's matching 3-under 69s. Brown had three birdies, an eagle and two bogeys on Tuesday, while Thorbjornsen tallied five birdies against two bogeys. 

"Barclay's short game has been spot on this week and kept him at the top," Ray said. "A few more looks within birdie range tomorrow and he will be right there."

Sophomore Karl Vilips tallied a 2-under 70 with a birdie, an eagle and a bogey, while Ethan Ng took advantage of four birdies en route to a 1-under 71. 

The low five teams and low individual not a member of an advancing team at each site qualify for the NCAA Championships, May 27-June 1 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. The current Top 5 is Arizona State (-21), Stanford (-19), Oregon (-16), BYU (-16) and LSU (-14). Denver (-13), Liberty (-11) and Washington (-9) are also in contention. 

"Our goal for tomorrow is to stick to the plan, believe in your training and teammates, and have fun," Ray said. "If we do those things, good things will happen!"

Stanford will tee off at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday and play with Arizona State and Oregon. 
 

NCAA Regional (The Reserve at Spanos Park, par 72)