STANFORD, Calif. — No. 20 Stanford men’s golf is back in action on short rest, heading to the Lone Star State for a two-day stay at the Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitational presented by Charles Schwab from September 28-29.
THE COURSE » Colonial Country Club serves as the backdrop for this season’s competition, playing as a par-70, 7,289 yard track that is nearing its centurion mark of play. The course was meticulously designed to be of challenge to every level of golfer while the renovation at one of the Lone Star State’s historic golf venues serves to continue its legacy into a new era.
THE FIELD » This season’s 16-team field boasts some of the top DI collegiate men’s golf talent with six top 10 teams based on Golfweek Preseason Rankings headlined by the appearance of No. 2 Arizona State. No. 3 Auburn follows with No. 4 Vanderbilt, No. 5 Oklahoma State, No. 7 Texas Tech, No. 9 North Carolina, No. 12 Georgia, No. 13 UCLA, No. 14 Pepperdine, No. 16 Alabama and No. 19 Oklahoma. No. 20 Stanford follows in front of No. 22 Georgia Tech, No. 24 Texas, No. 26 Virginia and TCU.
TOURNAMENT FORMAT » The two-day tournament will be completed under the play five, keep four format with the first and second rounds beginning with an 8:15 a.m. CT shotgun start on Monday, September 29. Tuesday’s third round tee times are slated for 8 a.m. CT.
THE CARDINAL LINEUP » The Cardinal sends out the same starting five from its two-day stay in Illinois with Jay Leng leading the charge for Stanford. Edan Cui heads out after a 2&1 win at Thursday’s Big Match while the freshman pair of Giovanni Binaghi and Carlo Roman also head out to Texas following match play wins. Cooper Stearns rounds out the starting five, earning his third-straight tournament appearance to begin the campaign.
STANFORD AT THE BEN HOGAN COLLEGIATE INVITATIONAL » Stanford has produced one individual champion at Colonial Country Club with Maverick McNealy earning the individual win at the 2016 Nike Collegiate Invitational with an 8-under, 202. Stanford placed 11th at last season’s competition with Jay Leng returning as Stanford’s highest finisher at the event from a season ago.
LIVE SCORING » Live scoring for the Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitational will be available on Scoreboard by Clippd with live coverage of the event on Twitter and Instagram at @StanfordMGolf.
THREE-STRAIGHT AT WOODSIDE » Stanford golf continued its recent run of dominance at the annual Big Match, claiming a 4-0 win in an abbreviated “rubber match” on Thursday as the Cardinal now leads the series 4-3 following its third-straight win. Jay Leng and Edan Cui both picked up match play wins in 1up and 2&1 fashion, respectively. In their first showings at Menlo CC, Giovanni Binaghi and Carlo Roman helped clinch the shutout win, earning 4&2 and 5&4 wins, respectively, to keep Woodside Cardinal for the third-straight season.
TOP-25 DUO IN ILLINOIS » The return of Jay Leng into the lineup and a near-career round for Edan Cui highlighted a successful two-day outing at the OFCC/Fighting Illini Invitational last weekend for the Cardinal as Stanford placed seventh in its annual trip to Olympia Fields Country Club. Leng placed tied for 14th with three, sub-70 rounds while Cui’s final round 65 slotted him tied for 23rd overall. All five Cardinal shot at even-par or under during the tournament as Stanford placed well in one of the strongest fields of the season so far.
DZ’S TOP FIVE DEBUT » Daniel Zou led the way for the Cardinal in his Stanford debut, placing tied for fourth at the Bombs Darts Birds Collegiate in early September. Zou, who rattled off three-straight sub-70 rounds, earned his best collegiate performance at 14-under, 202, to place as Stanford’s highest finisher. Stanford claimed fourth overall at 37-under for the tournament with Zou joining freshmen Judd Jirovsky and Giovanni Binaghi as the trio of Cardinal who made their collegiate debut.
PRESEASON PRAISE » Junior Jay Leng reeled in the preseason accolades as the San Diego native was tabbed a Golf Channel and Golfweek First Team Preseason All-American heading into the 2026-27 campaign. Leng was also tabbed to the 2026-27 Haskins Award presented by Stifel Preseason Watch List, becoming the first Cardinal to be named to the watch list since Michael Thorbjornsen and Karl Vilips were named to the list before the 2023-24 season.
As a sophomore, Leng posted a 70.96 scoring average over 36 rounds and was named both PING All-West Region and All-ACC. The San Diego, Calif., native also posted 11 top-20 finishes and placed inside the top 10 on four occasions during the 2025-26 season as he currently ranks No. 12 in the latest WAGR Rankings.
THE SUMMER OF JAY » Jay Leng had a summer to remember as he embarks on his junior campaign on The Farm. Having secured the win at The Western Amateur, Leng accrued enough points with a runner-up finish at the Northeast Amateur and a fifth place outing at the Southern Amateur to grab the 2026 Elite Amateur Cup Title, a series that combines WAGR performance points through the seven men’s amateur championships into a standings-based race.
With the win, Leng secured multiple PGA TOUR and 2027 U.S. Open Championships Final Qualifying exemptions. For his prowess this summer, Leng was also named to the 10-golfer squad for the 2026 U.S. Walker Cup team competed at the 51st Walker Cup at Lahinch in the Republic of Ireland in early September.
FRESH FACES » The Cardinal welcomes four new golfers to the squad for the 2026-27 season including a mix of domestic and international talent. Giovanni Binaghi and Carlo Roman join the Cardinal after stellar domestic careers in Italy. Roman ended the summer session having been a semifinalist at the R&A Boys Amateur Championship.
Domestically, the Cardinal welcomes Judd Jirovsky for his freshman season as the multi-sport athlete comes to The Farm as a multi-time Iowa State Champion in golf and football. The Cardinal also welcomes Daniel Zou from Rice University as a highly-touted transfer that earned the American Athletic Conference (AAC) Freshman of the Year in 2025 while being named All-Conference in both of his seasons with the Owls.