STANFORD, Calif. — No. 20 Stanford men’s golf completes the fall slate this weekend as the Cardinal heads down to Alpharetta, Ga., to take part in the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate Invitational from October 16-18.
THE COURSE » This season’s Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate will play as a par-72 on the GCOG Lakeside Course, spanning 7,017 yards that ranks among one of the top courses in the state of Georgia every year. Built by Arthur Hills in the early ‘90s, the Lakeside Course serves as a scenic backdrop for this season’s competition forcing competitors to combine a mix of elegance and skill to achieve the best results.
THE FIELD » This season’s 14-team field is led by hosts No. 9 Georgia Tech while Stanford follows as one of four top-25 teams in the field. The No. 20 Cardinal place ahead of No. 21 Pepperdine while No. 23 UCLA rounds out the ranked teams in the field that also includes Duke, Clemson, Northwestern, Boston College, LMU, Georgia Southern, UAB, Charlotte, Virginia and USC.
TOURNAMENT FORMAT » The three-day tournament will be completed under the play five, keep four format with the first and second rounds beginning with a wave start from holes 1 and 10 at 9 a.m. ET on Friday and Saturday. Sunday’s third round wave start begins at 8:30 a.m. ET.
THE CARDINAL LINEUP » Stanford rolls out a similar lineup to its trip to The Lone Star State with the lone change being the insertion of Daniel Zou into the fray. Jay Leng heads back out alongside Edan Cui as the two Cardinal to have competed in last season’s outing in Alpharetta. Giovanni Binaghi and Carlo Roman also make their first trip to The Peach State to round out Stanford’s five.
STANFORD AT THE GOLF CLUB OF GEORGIA COLLEGIATE » Stanford heads back out to the Golf Club of Georgia for the 15th time following an eighth-place team outing last season. Stanford has produced two medalists in the tournament’s history (Patrick Rodgers, 2012; Maverick McNealy, 2015) and won the team title in 2021. Edan Cui was Stanford’s top golfer during last season’s event, leading the field through 36 holes before finishing in 6th overall.
LIVE SCORING » Live scoring for the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate Invitational will be available on Scoreboard by Clippd with live coverage of the event on Twitter and Instagram at @StanfordMGolf.
LONE STAR LENG » Jay Leng led the Cardinal contingency in its return to The Lone Star State, placing tied for 32nd overall at the Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitational presented by Charles Schwab. Leng led the Cardinal to a 14th place finish in one of the deepest fields in collegiate golf as Giovanni Binaghi earned a top-50 finish to place second on the Cardinal in a tie for 38th overall.
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.