ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Having made headlines yesterday with a career-round, Stanford freshman Edan Cui led the charge once again, beating his personal best round with a 6-under, 66 card on Saturday to lead the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate through two rounds of action. As a team, Stanford shot 10-under for the day to counter Friday’s performance as the Cardinal sit sixth heading into Sunday’s final round.
Cui, who earned his first sub-70 round on Friday, started the afternoon strong with a birdie on the first hole before bookending the front nine with his second birdie of the day on hole nine. Much like Friday, Cui found his groove late in the round with four birdies across the back nine. Hitting under par at the par-5 hole 11, Cui doubled down with a consecutive birdie on hole 12 to move to 4-under for the day.
Looking to keep pace atop a leaderboard that includes three of the top five golfers in the nation, Cui nabbed his 10th birdie of the tournament on hole 17 before claiming his second-consecutive birdie on hole 18 to end the day at 6-under, firing off a career-best round of 66. Cui currently sits one stroke ahead of the field at 11-under.
Pushing the Cardinal second round turnaround, Nathan Wang snagged a 2-under card on Saturday, earning three of his four birdies on the afternoon on the front nine. Wang, who entered the day at 2-under, bookended the front nine with birdies on holes one and nine to take a 2-under scorecard into the final stretch. The Stanford senior continued to hold suit before hitting a small setback on 15. However, Wang bounced back with a birdie on his final hole of the day to take 4-under card through 36 holes that sees him sit in a tie for 7th overall.
Ending the day at 4-over through two rounds, a trio of Cardinal found themselves on opposite ends of the par-72 course. Jay Leng battled back from Friday's round, claiming four birdies on the day - including two on the front nine - to finish the day at 2-under for Stanford. Ethan Gao led the Cardinal through the front nine courtesy of five birdies, but some trouble on the back nine forced Gao to turn in an even-par scorecard for round two.
Serving as Stanford’s independent golfer, Dean Greyserman ended the second round tied for 51st alongside Leng and Gao, firing off a 3-over, 75 card following a tricky back nine. Cooper Stearns served as the reserve score for the Cardinal, battling back from a rocky start to finish the day at 6-over.
Stanford is back in action for the final round tomorrow morning, teeing off from hole one at 6:25 a.m. PT / 9:25 a.m. ET.