STANFORD, Calif. — After an up-and-down first round at the Stanford Intercollegiate, presented by Dr. Condoleezza Rice, the Cardinal was much better on Saturday. With an earlier start time of 7:30 a.m. and ideal playing conditions, Stanford came out of the gates hot and rode that momentum through to the finish. The Cardinal had the best round of the entire field on Saturday thanks to a few strong performances, finishing at 5-under on the day with a 279, moving up to fourth.
Few golfers had a better finish than freshman Paula Martín Sampedro. She caught fire on the back nine, recording five birdies to help finish with a 4-under 67, tied for the fewest strokes in a round early in her collegiate career. Those five birdies came during a six-hole span between holes 11-16, right when the Card began to make its charge to the top of the leaderboard. Martin Sampedro enters Sunday's competition three strokes back of leader Lauryn Nguyen of Northwestern.
Matching Martin Sampedro through two rounds is Kelly Xu, who was steady once again on Saturday morning. Xu only had one hole where she went over par and paired that with four birdies to finish the second round with a 2-under 69, which also puts her at -3 through two rounds. After a double bogey on the fourth hole, Xu was fantastic the rest of the way, producing three birdies to go from 1-over to 2-under.
Even though the finish wasn't what she wanted, Megha Ganne played a great round on Saturday. She finished even to par with a 71, a one-stroke improvement from Friday. Ganne found success in the middle of the day with birdies on holes 8 and 12.
After putting up 15 birdies as a team on Friday, the Cardinal was up to 19 on Saturday for a total of 34 through two rounds of golf. Individuals can continue contributing to the #PlayforHer fundraiser by sponsoring each birdie made by teams during the Stanford Intercollegiate.
The final round of the Stanford Intercollegiate begins at 8:30 am on Sunday morning, with a shotgun start that will scatter pairs throughout the course.
Stanford Intercollegiate (Stanford Golf Course, par 71)
| Name | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4. Stanford | 286 (+2) | 279 (-5) | -- | 565 (-3) |
| T6. Paula Martín Sampedro | 72 (+1) | 67 (-4) | -- | 139 (-3) |
| T6. Kelly Xu | 70 (-1) | 69 (-2) | -- | 139 (-3) |
| T23. Megha Ganne | 72 (+1) | 71 (E) | -- | 143 (+1) |
| T30. Sadie Englemann | 72 (+1) | 72 (+1) | -- | 144 (+2) |
| T53. Rachel Heck | 74 (+3) | 73 (+2) | -- | 147 (+5) |
| T81. Yu Wen Lu | 78 (+7) | 75 (+4) | -- | 153 (+11) |