ALPHARETTA, Ga. – Stanford men's golf overcame a six-shot deficit to hosts Georgia Tech on Sunday to win the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate by one stroke over GT and Pepperdine. The Cardinal fired the best round of the day, an 8-under 280, thanks to counting 9-under on the back nine, and finished at 23-under 841 for the event.
Michael Thorbjornsen was once again Stanford's top finisher, tying for third with a 5-under 67. Thorbjornsen was even through eight and just 1-under through 13, but birdied four of the final five holes to finish just two shots off the individual lead. Fellow classmate Karl Vilips started the day 4-over thorugh six, but was 4-under over the final 11 holes of the day to finish at even.
Fifth-year senior Ethan Ng finished 4-under on the day to finish with his third career Top 10 (second of the fall). Ng birdied the first two holes of the day, but fell to 1-over after a double bogey on No. 3 and a bogey on 4. He'd recover though, with birdies on each of the next two holes, before finishing with three birdies and nine pars over the final 12 holes. For the tournament, he tied for 10th at 5-under.
The story of Stanford's fall was consistency, as the Cardinal once again led the field in pars (170), while adding 54 birdies and four eagles. Stanford was second in Par 3 scoring, third in Par 4 scoring and fourth in Par 5 scoring en route to victory.
The Cardinal closed an impressive fall with their win on Sunday on the Lakeside Course. In addition to besting the hosts and No. 13 Georgia Tech, the No. 5 Cardinal defeated No. 6 Texas A&M, No. 7 Virginia, No. 10 Tennessee, No. 12 Alabama, No. 25 Pepperdine, No. 27 Wake Forest, No. 41 Washington, No. 43 Duke and No. 45 East Tennessee State.
Stanford won two times this fall - Sunday at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate, and a month ago at the Fighting Illini Invitational. The Cardinal also had a strong third-place showing at the Stephens Cup and a solid top-half finish in a deep 16-team field at the Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitational.
Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate (Lakeside Course, par 72)
| Name | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Stanford | 280 (-8) | 281 (-7) | 281 (-8) | 841 (-23) |
| T3. Michael Thorbjornsen | 68 (-4) | 70 (-2) | 67 (-5) | 205 (-11) |
| T10. Ethan Ng | 70 (-2) | 73 (+1) | 68 (-4) | 211 (-5) |
| T20. Karl Vilips | 75 (+3) | 67 (-5) | 72 (E) | 214 (-2) |
| T32. Barclay Brown | 72 (E) | 72 (E) | 73 (+1) | 217 (+1) |
| T41. Nate Menon | 70 (-2) | 72 (E) | 77 (+5) | 219 (+3) |
| T41. Dean Greyserman (ind.) | 70 (-2) | 72 (E) | 77 (+5) | 219 (+3) |
| 71. Alex Yang (ind.) | 72 (E) | 74 (+2) | 87 (+15) | 232 (+16) |