Stanford, Xu Finish Third

STANFORD, Calif. — The 2023 Stanford Intercollegiate, presented by Dr. Condoleezza Rice, wrapped up on Sunday afternoon at Stanford Golf Course. Despite making a furious charge on Saturday to pull within two strokes of first place entering the final day, the Stanford Cardinal could not get any closer. A tougher day across the board for most teams resulted in Stanford moving up into a tie for third place to close out play, while landing a pair in the top-ten.
 
It was Kelly Xu once again being a steady force atop the Stanford lineup, and she began her day in a big way. She teed off on the par-five first hole and dropped her final shot in the hole on just three strokes, recording the lone eagle of the tournament for the Card. From there, Xu began trying to chase down individual champion Catherine Park. Xu got as close as second place with a birdie on 15, but hit pars the final three holes to close out a 2-under 69, good for a 208 over three days. The 208 put her in a tie for third place, her best finish of the year.
 
The golfer without the most highs or lows on Sunday was Paula Martin Sampedro, who finished the day with an even-71. She bogeyed on the first hole and then hit a birdie on 12, but was even at par the rest of the way. The freshman closed out her first home tournament by shooting a 210, which is right at her scoring average through three collegiate tournaments.
 
The rest of the Stanford lineup featured Megha Ganne (74, 217), Sadie Englemann (75, 219), and Rachel Heck (79, 226). Yu Wen Lu competed as an individual and wrapped up play with a 240.
 
Stanford was excellent all tournament long on par-5s, leading the field by shooting 30-under for an average score of 4.50 on the longest holes. This helped the Card rack up 47 birdies all weekend long, the fourth-most in the field (Virginia had the most at 51).
 
The top of the leaderboard looked very different on Sunday when play finished compared to where it was on Saturday. USC was in a tie for first entering the day, but had the second-best round of the day at 4-under to win the Stanford Intercollegiate by seven strokes over Northwestern. The best round of the day came from California, who shot 5-under to move into a tie with Stanford for third, jumping up six spots. Northwestern got to second place by shooting 2-under on the day, moving up three.
 
Catherine Park of USC won the tournament by shooting a 2-under 69 in the final round, compiling a 206 to beat Amanda Sambach of Virginia by one stroke. Ching-Tzu Chen of Oregon and Xu tied for third with their scores of 208.
 
By sweeping the individual and team champions, USC became the 15th team to do so in the 27 years of the event. USC's team championship is its first since 2018, and Park is the team's first individual champion since Kyung Kim in 2012. The Trojans have now won the event five times, pulling into a tie with Stanford and UCLA for the most in the history of the Stanford Intercollegiate.
 
Even more significant than the results, the #PlayforHer fundraiser hosted by Stanford raised over $260,000 for breast cancer research, going directly to Dr. Hope Rugo at the University of California, San Francisco.
 
One final tournament remains in the fall portion of the schedule for Stanford, as the team heads to Atlanta for the East Lake Cup on October 30 – November 1.
 

Stanford Intercollegiate (Stanford Golf Course, par 71)