STANFORD, Calif. - No. 22 Stanford men's golf returns to action in a rivalry setting, joining forces with the women's program to take on California in the Big Match. On Thursday at Menlo Country Club.
THE COURSE » The storied Menlo Country Club, founded in 1904, will host Big Match with the 6,732-yard par-71 course layout. The track has been the lone host of the four previous Big Matches and will once again be a beautiful backdrop for the Bay Area rivalry.
MATCH PLAY FORMAT » Big Match will take place in a mixed Match-Play format, with seven total pairings, playing best ball in an effort to secure four team points for the win. Matches will tee off every ten minutes from the first tee box, beginning at noon PT.
THE PAIRINGS » Stanford and California will square off with the following scheduled pairings (subject to change prior to Thursday's tee times):
12 p.m. - Kaylyn Noh / Sihao Cong vs Kelly Xu / TK Chantananuwat
12:10 p.m. - Jieming Yang / Ziqin Zhou vs Meja Ortengren / Jay Leng
12:20 p.m. - Marie-Agnes Fischer / Matthew Miyamoto vs Andrea Revuelta / Nathan Wang
12:30 p.m. - Adora Liu / Tony Chen vs Paula Martin Sampedro / Kush Arora
12:40 p.m. - Olivia Lee / Wenliang Xie vs Leigh Chien / Logan Kim
12:50 p.m. - Claudia Lara Miravitlles / Daniel Heo vs Nora Sundberg / SK Dobson
1 p.m. - Constance Fouillet / Charlie Berridge vs Megha Ganne / Ethan Gao
LIVE SCORING » Live scoring for Big Match will be available on GolfGenius.com with live coverage of the event also available on Twitter and Instagram at @StanfordMGolf.
BIG MATCH HISTORY » Thursday's action will be the fifth rendition of Big Match, with the Golden Bears holding a 3-1 lead in the series. Stanford's lone victory came in a 4-2 win in 2022, with Dean Greyserman, Ethan Ng, Michael Thorbjornsen, and Karl Vilips contributing to match wins.
LAST TIME OUT » In a condensed Fighting Illini Invitational that squeezed 54 holes of competition into two days rather than the scheduled three, Stanford opened the season with T-6th finish with an 8-over 848 weekend scorecard. Freshman Jay Leng impressed in his collegiate debut as Stanford's best finisher, placing T-15th on the weekend at 1-under par.
NATION'S TOP CLASS » Widely regarded as the top recruiting class of 2024, the Cardinal inked three exciting young golfers joining the program this season - T.K. Chantananuwat, Jay Leng Jr., and Logan Kim.
Chantananuwat, one of the world's best golf prospects, won the Trust Asian Mixed Cup at just 15 years of age to become the youngest player ever to win an event on a major professional tour. The Bangkok native has ranked as high as sixth in the World Amateur Golf Rankings and is the top Asian amateur golfer.
Leng is among California's elite in junior golf, ranked as the No. 1 recruit in the state according to Junior Golf Scoreboard. The San Diego native is a multiple AJGA Junior Tour champion and a two-time AJGA First-Team Rolex All-American.
Kim rounds out the 2024 class as yet another in-state commitment coming to The Farm. The San Jose native is the fourth-ranked recruit in the state of California according to Junior Golf Scoreboard, a Southern California Junior PGA Tour tournament winner, and has multiple top ten finishes on the AJGA Tour.
BOLSTERING THE STAFF » Stanford head coach Conrad Ray recently completed his staff ahead of the 2024-25 season, announcing the addition of Hong Seh Lim Assistant Men’s Golf Coach Alex Merrill on Monday afternoon.
Joining the staff in a newly-endowed role, Merrill comes to The Farm after a two-year tenure at Purdue as the Director of Administration & Performance for Golf, where he managed the operations and strength & conditioning for both the men's and women's golf programs. Under his guidance, the Boilermaker golf programs combined for six tournament wins and a pair of NCAA Championship appearances.
Previous stops for Merrill also includes Duke University, where he spent 12 seasons as a sports performance coach, as well as Attain Sports Performance in western Massachusetts.