STANFORD, Calif. — Having littered the leaderboard with 20 birdies and two eagles, the Stanford men’s golf team surged up the leaderboard during the afternoon session of the first round of The Goodwin, snagging a one-shot lead through 18 holes on Thursday. Stanford leads the largest field in collegiate men’s golf after the first round at 11-under as a team.
Leading the charge for the Cardinal was sophomore Jay Leng who shot a clean round on Thursday. Leng hit the turn at 4-under having secured birdies in four of his first five holes of the day. He then snatched his final birdie of the day on hole 16, finishing the round at 5-under par and tying his lowest career round with his total of 65. Leng currently sits in a tie for second overall after one round.
Following Leng, Nathan Wang, procured five birdies throughout Thursday’s opening round, snatching a 31 as he hit the turn for the back nine with four birdies in his first nine holes. Wang then went perfect through hole 15 before tallying his fifth birdie of the day on hole 16. Wang secured his second-lowest career round at Stanford with a 66 after being tripped up on his penultimate hole. The senior currently sits in a tie for sixth overall at 4-under.
With an eagle on the Stanford Golf Course’s first hole, Ethan Gao turned in a superb performance on Thursday, snatching a 3-under, 67 through 18 holes. Gao got the Stanford birdie run started as the first golfer off the afternoon tees and three birdies along with his eagle to stay in the top-10 through one round. Gao slots in a tie for ninth after one day of competition.
Dean Greyserman served as the final scoring golfer for the Cardinal, earning a 1-over, 71 card on Thursday. Greyserman battled through the front-nine and picked up two birdies on holes five and six to hit the turn at even-par. The senior slotted home two final birdies along the back nine to finish just above par and currently sits tied for 57th.
Also shooting well for Stanford, Edan Cui earned three birdies during the round coupled with one eagle on the par-5 hole seven. Cui had an up-and-down front nine as he hit the turn at even-par before earning his final two birdies of the day on the last three holes to finish at 2-over. Cui slots in a tie for 72nd through round one.
Golfing individually, TK Chantananuwat, Cooper Stearns and Kush Arora all shot well during Thursday’s round. Chantananuwat slotted the highest of the Cardinal trio, placing tied for 42nd at even-par having earned four birdies on the day. Stearns also shot his lowest round to date, earning a collegiate best 72 card as he sits tied for 72nd. Arora rounds out the individual competitors for the Cardinal having shot 5-over on Thursday.
Stanford is back in action on Friday, March 27 for the second round of The Goodwin. The Cardinal tees off from the back nine at 7:05 a.m.