STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford men's golf returned to the top of the Pac-12 in 2023, winning its 12th conference championship and its first since 2019. The Cardinal was ranked in the top-10 for the entirety of the campaign and finished tied for eighth at the NCAA Championships.
RECAPPING THE SEASON
Stanford emerged from its fall season as one of the top programs in the country, scoring victories at the Fighting Illini Invitational (Sept. 16-18) and the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate (Oct. 21-23), in addition to posting match play victories over Cal and Texas. Michael Thorbjornsen led the Cardinal in Illinois with a seven-under par score to win the tournament, and he finished third in Georgia at 11-under to guide Stanford to its second team title of the fall.
The calendar turned to 2023, and Stanford carried its momentum into a third-place result at The Prestige at PGA West, an eighth-place finish at the Cabo Collegiate, a third-place finish at The Goodwin, hosted by Stanford at TPC Harding, and a fourth-place mark at the Western Intercollegiate.
The Cardinal hosted the Pac-12 Championships from April 28-30 at the Stanford Golf Course, winning its first championship since 2019. The 13-stroke victory (19-under 1,381) was the first double-digit margin of victory for a team at Pac-12 Championships since 2016, when the Cardinal bested Cal by 29 shots. More impressively, Stanford sat in sixth place and trailed Arizona State by 19 shots following 18 holes on Friday, meaning the Cardinal bested the Sun Devils by 32 strokes over the final 54 holes. On the individual side, Thorbjornsen was Stanford's first Pac-12 champion since Maverick McNealy in 2015.
Our Pac-12 Champion!#GoStanford pic.twitter.com/fQeu8XW6cq
— Stanford Men's Golf (@StanfordMGolf) May 1, 2023
Defended our home turf.
— Stanford Men's Golf (@StanfordMGolf) May 1, 2023
Pac-12 Champs at Stanford Golf Course! #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/4fZje0lUpF
Stanford continued its stretch of impeccable play at the NCAA Las Vegas Regional, held at Bear's Best Las Vegas, combining to shoot a staggering 57 strokes under par. Ethan Ng led the way for Stanford with a career-best fourth-place finish, ending the 54-hole event with an 18-under 198, the best NCAA Regional performance ever by a Cardinal. Thorbjornsen was close behind in fifth, while Barclay Brown, Nate Menon and Karl Vilips all ended at least seven under par and in the top-30 overall.
The NCAA Championships were held in Scottsdale, Arizona at Grayhawk Golf Club, with Stanford finishing tied for eighth overall. The Cardinal fought back from 17th place through 18 holes, climbing to sixth through 54 holes, but missed out on match play after dropping a 10-hole tiebreaker to Arizona State, with both teams finishing 12-over par. Brown was in contention for the individual championship throughout the duration of the event, taking fourth overall.
Huge putt for @StanfordMGolf's Ethan NG! #NCAAGolf
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) May 29, 2023
??: Golf Channel & @Peacock pic.twitter.com/I2yqcIdHE7
Wow! Thorbjornsen chips in for birdie.
— Stanford Men's Golf (@StanfordMGolf) May 30, 2023
We're tied after the first playoff holes, getting ready for five more. #GoStanford
pic.twitter.com/7rQnBU8ePp
THREE ALL-AMERICANS
For the second consecutive season Michael Thorbjornsen was honored as an All-American, while Barclay Brown and Karl Vilips earned their first selections.
Thorbjornsen was the Pac-12 Golfer of the Year, leading the program to the conference championship for the first time since 2019. He was a first team All-Pac-12 honoree for the second straight year, and he was a finalist for the Ben Hogan Award. Thorbjornsen led the Pac-12 with a 69.26 scoring average, which ranked sixth nationally. That scoring average is the second-best in program history and it ranks as the eighth-best mark in Pac-12 history.
Brown earned his first career All-America selection on the heels of his fourth-place performance at the NCAA Championships. Brown was an All-Pac-12 second team honoree, finishing the season with a 70.88 scoring average across 35 rounds. The South Yorkshire, England native tallied six top-20 finishes on the season.
Vilips finished his year as a top-25 ranked individual to earn the first All-America nod of his career. An All-Pac-12 first team selection this season, Vilips held an average of 70.38 strokes on the season across 34 rounds with five top-20 finishes. Hailing from Perth, Western Australia, he ended in 22nd place at the NCAA Championships.
CARD REPRESENTS AT U.S. OPEN
Stanford had four current student-athletes qualify for the U.S. Open through their results in qualifying tournaments around the country: Michael Thorbjornsen, Barclay Brown, Karl Vilips and Alexander Yang. They joined Patrick Rodgers '15 in the field, with Stanford's five Cardinal ranking as the fourth-most representatives from any program across the nation.
Rodgers finished tied for 32nd overall at three over par, while the quartet of current athletes missed the cut with marks ranging from five-over par to 13-over.
AWARDS AND ACCOLADES
| Name | Honors |
|---|---|
| Barclay Brown | PING All-America honorable mention All-Pac-12 second team |
| Nate Menon | All-Pac-12 honorable mention |
| Michael Thorbjornsen | PING All-America first team Pac-12 Golfer of the Year All-Pac-12 first team Ben Hogan Award finalist Two-time Pac-12 Golfer of the Month (Sept. 2022, Oct. 2022) Pac-12 Golfer of the Week (Feb. 28, 2023) |
| Karl Vilips | PING All-America honorable mention All-Pac-12 first team |
| Conrad Ray | Pac-12 Coach of the Year Dave Williams Coach of the Year finalist |