CAREFREE, Ariz. - Karl Vilips shoots a third-round 71 at the Pac-12 Men's Golf Championships and will head into Sunday's final trip around Desert Forest Golf Club just four strokes off the lead as the Aussie looks for his first career tournament win. Stanford sits in fifth place in the team standings at 41-over after 54 holes, 11 strokes behind leader Arizona State.
Vilips weathered a tumultuous front nine, sinking four birdies to offset a pair of bogeys and a double-bogey on the par-4 fifth to sit even par after nine holes. It was a cleaner score sheet on the back stretch for the senior, with a lone birdie opposite a bogey on the 13th to cap off his third round effort. Looking for the best conference tournament finish of his career, Vilips finished T6th, T18th, and T40th in his three previous attempts.
Michael Thorbjornsen fell victim to a 5-over start to the beginning of his round, with a pair of bogeys and a triple bogey on the 7th hole to fall outside of the top-10, but the senior would battle back with three birdies on the back nine to climb back into contention and will head into the final round tied-5th at 3-over on the weekend.
Barclay Brown started the day with a trio of birdies on holes 4, 6, and 11, but a pair of double-bogeys down the stretch pushed Brown to 2-over on the round. The effort was still good enough for Brown's best round of the tournament thus far, a four-shot improvement from his second round 77.
Ethan Gao maintained a top-20 position after three rounds of play, but couldn't any birdies on the scorecard in Saturday's effort as he posted a 3-over 74 with three bogeys on the day. Jake Beber-Frankel carded a 5-over 76 with four birdies, four bogeys, a double-bogey, and a triple-bogey and will head into tomorrow tied-31st. Sean-Karl Dobson was Stanford's non-scoring round for the day with an 8-over 79.
Third and final round of action resumes tomorrow, with Stanford teeing off at 7:30 a.m. PT alongside Oregon and Oregon State.
Pac-12 Championships (Desert Forest Golf Club, par 71)
| Name | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5. Stanford | 359 (+4) | 378 (+23) | 369 (+14) | --- | --- |
| T3. Karl Vilips | 68 (-3) | 75 (+4) | 71 (E) | --- | --- |
| T5. Michael Thorbjornsen | 65 (-6) | 76 (+5) | 75 (+4) | --- | --- |
| T14. Ethan Gao | 70 (-1) | 76 (+5) | 74 (+3) | --- | --- |
| T31. Jake Beber-Frankel | 76 (+5) | 74 (+3) | 76 (+5) | --- | --- |
| T56. Barclay Brown | 82 (+11) | 77 (+6) | 73 (+2) | --- | --- |
| 68. Sean-Karl Dobson | 79 (+9) | 86 (+15) | 79 (+8) | --- | --- |
Italics - Non-scoring round