STANFORD, Calif. - The fall slate rolls on for No. 22 Stanford, as it heads down to New Mexico to compete in the inaugural NB3 Matchplay event hosted by Cardinal alum Notah Begay III. The event will be played under a round-robin format on Tuesday and Wednesday.
THE COURSE » NB3 Matchplay will be played on Twin Warriors Golf Club in Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico, making up one of two courses designed by My New Mexico Golf, one of the most prestigious golf groups in the Southwest. A 7,736-yard track from the championship tees, Twin Warriors has played host to the 2022 Sr. PGA Professional Championship, the 2nd Women's PGA Cup (October 2022), the 2023 PGA Professional Championship, and the inaugural 17u National Car Rental PGA Jr. League Championship (November 2023).
THE FIELD » The NB3 Matchplay field consists of the men's and women's golf programs from Stanford, New Mexico, New Mexico State, and Texas. Bringing some of the nation's most storied programs to Twin Warriors, the field has combined for 16 NCAA national championships and 80 conference titles.
TOURNAMENT FORMAT » The teams will compete in a round-robin match play format, with two matches on Tuesday and one on Wednesday. Stanford will square off against New Mexico in twosomes on Tuesday morning, then in foursomes against New Mexico State (Tuesday afternoon) and Texas (Wednesday). Teams receive one point for winning a match, a half-point for ties and zero points for losing a match, with awards going to the men's, women's, and overall champions following the event.
THE CARDINAL LINEUP » Stanford rolls out its new-looking lineup for the third time this season, featuring three new freshmen, an incoming transfer, and one returner. Hitting the links the Cardinal will be T.K. Chantananuwat, Nathan Wang, Ethan Gao, Logan Kim, and Jay Leng.
TOURNAMENT COVERAGE » NBC Sports will broadcast the NB3 Matchplay on Golf Channel with coverage beginning at 5:30 p.m. EST on October 8th and 4:30 p.m. EST on the 9th on Golf Channel and Peacock. A live leaderboard for the event will also be available at nb3college.com.
LAST TIME OUT » Returning to Colonial Country Club, Stanford turned in a seventh-place finish at the Ben Hogan Invitational with a 22-over performance for the week. Freshman TK Chantananuwat was the Cardinal's best finisher of the tournament, finishing T-19th with a 3-over 213, including an opening round 69 for the second sub-70 scorecard of his career.
BIG WIN IN WOODSIDE » In the fifth installment of the Big Match between the golf programs of Stanford and California, the Cardinal emerged victorious at Menlo Country Club, winning 4-2. It was the second time that Stanford has won the event, with its other victory coming in 2022. T.K. Chantananuwat, Ethan Gao, Logan Kim, and Nathan Wang each contributed match wins, sealing to win for Stanford.
LENG'S IMPRESSIVE DEBUT » 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.